Having breakfast became more expensive for Brazilians, as items such as French bread, margarine and milk rose above the country’s official inflation, measured by the IPCA (General Consumer Price Index – Broad), in 12 months through April.
Inflation for basic food items hit 28.9% in the 12 months through April – a record level since monitoring began in September last year, according to a monthly study carried out by economists from PUC-PR (Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná). from Paraná).
In the case of breakfast products, the price increase was 32.16% – well above the IPCA recorded in the 12 months through April (12.13%).
The Basic Food Basket Inflation Index for April shows that the highest increases in this group of foods were tomato (103.26%), powdered coffee (67.53%) and potato (63.4%). In the period, only one item showed a price drop: rice, which was 11.53% cheaper.
In one month, the only item that showed a drop was the silver banana, 3.18%
The calculation was based on the consumption expenditure of families residing in urban areas, with incomes between 1 and 40 minimum wages, whatever the source of income, obtained from the POF (Family Budget Survey), from the IBGE ( Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) from 2017-2018.
Serving bread, hot drinks, cookies and cakes for breakfast to about 700 people in his parish, on the east side of São Paulo, Father Julio Lancellotti says that food price increases have reduced donations of basic food baskets by about of 70%.
“We use a lot of food to be able to meet the demand of families, but donations have dropped a lot. We had to reduce the distribution of complements for breakfast, such as cakes and chocolate milk”, says the priest.
The demand for food has fluctuated in recent months, but in the winter months the demand for food tends to be higher. “Since the pandemic, the number of people who have to choose between food or housing has increased.
The bread served in the project is self-made, but the inputs used in the bakery to manufacture 1,200 loaves of bread a day have risen considerably in recent months, he says. The goal is to serve at least one loaf of bread to each person, but the religious says he doesn’t always have all the items to donate. “It depends on the day. The bread we prepare is already made in a way that doesn’t need any filling.”
“Undoubtedly, inflation affects people with lower incomes much more, but in the current conjuncture it has made the prices of basic food items inaccessible for many Brazilians”, says Professor Jackson Bittencourt, from PUC-PR.
In May, the preview of inflation, measured by the IPCA-15, rose 0.59% – the rise was lighter than that recorded in April (1.73%), but above what analysts had predicted. ​In the 12-month period, the IPCA-15 hit 12.20% — the highest rate for the index since November 2003, when the accumulated index was 12.69%.
In this scenario, the consumer has had to juggle to go to the supermarket.
Another study, by CVA Solutions, shows that the search for lower prices caused several changes in supermarket purchases. Consumers started going to the supermarket more times a week than they did last year (0.5 point increase).
In addition, the demand for discounts, prizes and promotions has inflated loyalty programs. The number of consumers participating in these benefits increased from 28.3% to 30.5%.
In the search for better prices and offers, Brazilians also adhered more to supermarkets’ own brands: 54% buy and 62% of these consider that the quality is comparable to the most famous brands. In 2021, these percentages were 52% and 58%, respectively.
“Conquering the consumer with loyalty programs, encouraging the use of applications with discounts and points accumulation are very efficient measures. Hypermarkets and supermarkets are more active in the digital world, but the cashiers still need to improve”, observes Sandro Cimatti, partner- director of the CVA.
The survey heard 5,512 people from across the country and was completed in early May.
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