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Date Published: 17/12/2024

Spanish supermarkets hike up the price of Christmas food ahead of the holidays

Traditional Christmas goodies have shot up by more than 6% compared to last year in shops across Spain

For most people, Christmas is all about spending time with family and loved ones and showing our appreciation for the people we care about. Of course, for both the Spanish and foreigners who have made this country home, not to mention the hoards of December visitors, the holidays tend to revolve around food.

Christmas grocery shopping is hard on the pockets at the best of times, but a recent scout around by the Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU) shows that this year, the price of typical festive food items has shot up by 6.1% in supermarkets across Spain.

This really is a significant increase, considering that Christmas grocery staples only rose by 4.3% last year compared to 2022.

Now, before we take a deep-dive into the pricey products themselves, it’s worth remembering that Spanish Christmas is celebrated a little differently than in the UK. Here in Spain, families typically have a huge, multi-course feast on December 24 made up of lots of fresh fish and shellfish, cured meats, fruit and plenty of sweet treats.

Hardly a turkey or glazed ham in sight. However, many long-time expats have adopted this culinary tradition and will certainly have noticed the massive price jump if they’re preparing a Christmas Eve family meal.

According to the OCU, a total of 10 grocery items have shot up in price: oysters (+19%), pomegranate (+17%), lamb (+16%), sea bass (+12%), Iberian ham (+11%), sea bream (+10%), pineapple (+10%), eels (+9%), Galician barnacles (+8%) and veal (6%).

Red cabbage, on the other hand, has maintained its price, while clams (-19%), turkey (-6%), prawns (-5%) and hake (-1%) have gone down.

Leaving Christmas dinner aside, food prices in general are an incredible 35.3% more expensive in Spain today than they were three years ago, something which will hardly be improved by the VAT increase planned for January.

Given this situation, the OCU “recommends planning Christmas dinners in advance, shopping in advance, taking advantage of offers or replacing the most expensive products with more affordable ones to avoid the typical price increases in the coming weeks, for example, by incorporating poultry meat like turkey.”

With all this in mind, it seems like the traditional British Christmas dinner of turkey and ham might actually be the more affordable option.

In other news: Brussels gives Spain an ultimatum: Implement dual carriageway tolls in 2025 or face huge fines

Image: Freepik

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