The prices of Christmas foods have increased by 10% in the month of December compared to the end of November, according to the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), especially seafood such as barnacles, which are the product that has increased the most ( 68.8%), followed by clams (36.9%).
Afterwards, the products with the greatest increases are hake (29.7%), oysters (11.6%), sea bream (8.6%) and sea bass (7.6%), as reported by the OCU this Saturday in a press release.
In the case of meat, the increases are more moderate, with lamb in the lead (6.8%) and then pularda (4%), beef round (1.7%) and Iberian bait ham ( 1.3%).
Since 2015, the OCU has been following the evolution of prices of a series of typically Christmas foods that are in high demand at this time, in municipal markets, supermarkets and hypermarkets in Albacete, Barcelona, ??Bilbao, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza.
Specifically, the OCU analyzes the price of 16 products: suckling lamb to roast in quarters, veal round, pularda, turkey, Iberian bait-cut ham, red cabbage, pineapple, pomegranate, sea bream , farmed sea bass, cut hake, eels, cooked prawns, Galician barnacles, clams and oysters.
In the observatory for the month of December, of all these products, twelve have increased in price and the remaining four have decreased: elvers (1.7% less compared to November), prawns (-4.5%), pineapple (-5.5%) and red cabbage (-6.1%), which is the product that drops the most.
Compared to last year, prices have risen on average by 1.2%, so there is a moderation in the increases compared to other years, but despite this, six products of the 16 analyzed are at their highest level. since 2015, specifically beef round, lamb, pularda, turkey, pomegranate and clams.
The OCU recommends making purchases early (especially seafood and fish) and replacing the most expensive products with cheaper alternatives that, although they are less in demand, can be “just as interesting from a nutritional point of view.”