The food expenditure of French households has experienced a dizzying increase of 20.5% over the past two years, according to a study carried out by Le Parisien – Today in France and published Saturday January 20, 2024. INSEE confirms this inflation on the overall shopping basket. To assess the impact of this inflation on the household food budget, the daily has followed the evolution of the prices of twenty consumer products since January 2022. Among these products are popular brands such as Cristaline, Nutella, President, Lotus, and Danone, selected to represent various product categories.
Data collected from the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir reveals significant increases over the last twenty-four months. For example, President soft butter shows an increase of 41.9%, Lotus toilet paper by 33.3%, and Danone natural yogurts by 32.9%. In January 2022, the total cost of the basket of Parisian was from 64.78 euroscompared to the current 78.05 eurosall major brands combined (except Lidl).
Inflation at its highest in May 2023
Grégory Caret, director of the UFC-Que Choisir Consumer Observatory, emphasizes that economic reasons, such as the surge in raw materials and energy prices, partly explain these increases. However, he points the greed of certain industrialists and distributors who took advantage of the situation to accumulate excessive margins. The price surge reaches its peak in May 2023, with a basket peaking at 80.07 euros. Since then, a slight decrease is observedattributable to some price drops on specific products and occasional promotions.
The price differences between brands are notable. E.Leclerc remained the cheapest, with a receipt of 77.15 euros, almost 6 euros less than at Carrefour Market. Despite some anticipated price drops In categories such as biscuits, butter and chicken, industry players are warning against returning to pre-price hike labels. Grégory Caret emphasizes that households will have to absorb this 20% increase, which will have an impact on other sectors such as fashion, going out or vacations.