Olive oil skyrocketed in price by 67% in the last year, sugar rose by more than 40% and potatoes by 20.5%.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.2% in September compared to the previous month and increased its interannual rate nine tenths, up to 3.5%, mainly due to the rise in electricity prices and fuels and lubricants for personal vehicles. Food prices, for their part, maintained their year-on-year growth at 10.5%.

With the advance in September, inflation has chained three consecutive months of increases after in July and August it rose four and three tenths, respectively, according to the final data published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), which coincides with the advanced at the end of last month.

In this way, the interannual rate of the CPI once again exceeded 3% in September after three months below this level and is at its highest level since last April, when it reached 4.1%. An increase in the interannual rate as high as that experienced in September, of nine tenths, has not been recorded since June 2022.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has stressed in a statement that the increase in general inflation in September is due to the base effect of electricity and fuel prices. "Spain has been among the countries with the lowest inflation and highest growth in the entire euro zone for more than a year," he highlighted.

"In an inflationary context throughout Europe, Spain is consolidating itself as one of the countries in the euro zone with the lowest inflation after lowering it by almost 5.5 points in the last year," highlighted the Department headed, in office, by Nadia Calviño .

Faced with the rising prices of electricity and fuel, Statistics highlights that the prices of tourist packages fell more in September than in the same month of 2022, while the prices of clothing and footwear rose less than a year before with the entry of the new autumn-winter season.

Core inflation (without unprocessed food or energy products) fell three tenths in September, to 5.8%, standing 2.3 points above the general CPI. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has highlighted that this rate of 5.8% is the lowest since June 2022.

In the case of prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, their interannual rate remained unchanged in September, showing a rebound of 10.5%, the same as in August. With the September data, food prices have accumulated 18 consecutive months of double-digit increases.

THE PRICE OF OLIVE OIL SHOOTS BY 67% IN THE LAST YEAR

In an interannual rate (September 2023 compared to the same month in 2022), the foods that have increased the most in price are olive oil (67%); sugar (40.5%); potatoes (20.5%); rice (18.5%) and confectionery products (18.2%). Olive oil has become more expensive by 10.1% in September of this year compared to the month of August and its price has multiplied by more than two since March 2021, with an increase of 136.6%.

Along with the above, many other foods registered double-digit year-on-year increases in their prices, such as fruit and vegetable juices (16.5%); jams and jams (15.5%), pork (14.4%); breakfast cereals (14.1%); other meats (13.5%); whole milk (13%); fresh legumes and vegetables (11.7%); eggs (11.5%); skimmed milk (11.3%) and dried fish and seafood and butter, both with increases of 11.1%.

Compared to food, which led the year-on-year price increases, what became cheaper in the ninth month of the year compared to September 2022 was electricity (-38.3%); other oils (-32.7%); butane and propane (-32.9%); natural gas (-23.3%) and combined passenger transport (-15.4%).

Without taking into account the reduction in the special tax on electricity and the variations on other taxes, the interannual CPI reached 3.9% in September, four tenths above the general rate of 3.5%. This is reflected in the CPI at constant taxes that the INE also publishes within the framework of this statistic.

THE PRICE OF FOOD INCREASES 0.5% COMPARED TO AUGUST

In monthly terms (September over August), the CPI registered an increase of 0.2%, three tenths less than what it rose in the previous month. With this rebound, inflation has chained four consecutive months of monthly increases.

The monthly increase in the CPI in September was a consequence, among other factors, of the increase in the cost of fuel, electricity and food, which rose 0.5% due to the increase in the price of oils and fats and legumes and vegetables.

What rose the most in price in the month of September compared to the previous month was olive oil (10.1%) and liquid fuels (7.1%), while what fell the most were tourist packages (- 22.1%).

In the ninth month of 2023, the Harmonized Consumer Price Index (IPCA) placed its interannual rate at 3.3%, nine tenths above the rate registered the previous month. For its part, the monthly variation of the IPCA was 0.6%.