The prices of consumer products continue to rise. This is the finding of the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir which is sounding the alarm on Wednesday. According to its barometer, prices have increased by 5.3% in one year on all of what we consume, from electricity to foodstuffs, including rents, bank charges, and this increase continues especially because of the war in Ukraine. Europe 1 takes stock of this massive inflation in the prices of consumer products.
Hygiene and food have been hit hard lately
The rise in these prices was until now confined to energy, before contaminating other everyday products. Hygiene is concerned with an increase of more than 6% in one year. Toilet paper and paper towels are particularly affected due to a very energy-intensive industry.
Food is also up, by 4.1%. Fruits, vegetables, edible oils and meat are the products that increase the most. Soaring cereal prices are increasing the cost of animal feed. In particular, pork meat shows an increase of 35%. These food prices are also impacted by weather conditions, with droughts and floods which have damaged a number of harvests since last summer all over the world.
Impressive price increases on energy
While all of these price increases followed those of energy, the fact remains that the latter is affected by the most impressive increase. Fuel oil, for example, shows an increase of 88%, which financially penalizes all those who have to fill their tank.
There is also gas, +46%, diesel, +32% and gasoline, +15%. Here, the increases are still significantly mitigated by government measures with the famous 18 cents reduction on fuel, or the price shield on gas. France nevertheless remains less directly impacted than its European neighbours. However, it is public finances that pay the bill.