French government efforts to pressure retailers and big food producers into passing on falling costs to consumers have a long way to go as price increases for meat and vegetables continue to outpace stubbornly high overall inflation.
Bloomberg’s custom index calculating how much households need to spend on ingredients to make a traditional coq au vin showed a rise of 14.9% year-on-year in April — driven by the soaring cost of carrots and butter.
The monthly gauge — based on data from the national statistics office and the Ministry of Agriculture and Nutrition — showed the total cost of the dish reached €19.2 ($20.9). Wine accounted for the smallest increase among the items covered, up 8.5%, though even this exceeded the 6.9% rate of French headline inflation.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said this week that a government-backed campaign to encourage retailers to lower prices for some essential food items on supermarket shelves had seen some results, with decreases of as much as 13%. He warned big food producers that they must do their bit to pass on lower costs, however, and not make undue margins at the expense of consumers.
There was better news for Spanish cooks as the pace of increase in the cost of making a traditional paella slowed sharply.
The price of preparing Spain’s national dish was 14.1% more expensive in April than a year ago, down from the 18.5% rise in March though still higher than the national food inflation rate of 12.9%. The Paella Index, which crunches data from the country’s National Statistics Institute, compares with an overall pace of inflation of just 3.8%.
The cost of some key ingredients such as olive oil, up 22.2%, continued to surge but at a slower pace. Vegetables and legumes were up 11.2%. The increase in the price of rice accelerated to 23%, however, from 22.1% the previous month.
