Basic basket rises again with more expensive potatoes and tomatoes

After two months of decline, the inflation index for the basic food basket has risen again in Brazil, according to a study by professors at PUCPR (Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná).

The indicator rose by 0.27% in October. The advance came after deflation (low) of 1.88% in August and 3.47% in September.

In the accumulated of 12 months, the basic food basket still records double-digit inflation, despite the recent slowdown. The high was 16.17% up to October – the advance was 18.84% up to the previous month.

This means a rise in prices far above the official inflation indicator in Brazil. In 12 months, the IPCA (National Index of Consumer Prices) rose 6.47% until October, according to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

The PUCPR study gathers data on 13 basic foodstuffs that are part of the IPCA. Eight of them became more expensive in October, while five showed price declines.

The monthly high was driven by advances in potatoes (23.36%) and tomatoes (17.63%), indicates economist Jackson Bittencourt, coordinator of the economic sciences course at PUCPR.

The duo, says the professor, is still impacted by the increase in production costs and the adverse weather throughout the year.

“Potatoes and tomatoes were the two great villains in October. They rose significantly and threw inflation up again”, he says.

Cassava flour (3.64%) was another highlight on the high side. The main falls in October came from long life milk (-6.32%), carioca bean (-3.55%) and soybean oil (-2.85%).

In the accumulated of 12 months, 11 products registered high until October. The biggest increases were verified in powdered coffee (31.93%), long-life milk (30.50%), silver banana (28.98%) and potato (28.58%). The only falls were found in tomatoes (-21.99%) and rice (-4.66%).

“The population that earns up to a minimum wage or two is experiencing enormous difficulties to buy a basic basket. People are replacing items”, evaluates Bittencourt.

In October, the price of the basic food basket increased in 12 of the 17 capitals surveyed by Dieese (Inter-union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies).

The most expressive increases occurred in Porto Alegre (3.34%), Campo Grande (3.17%) and Vitória (3.14%). The most intense reductions were located in Recife (-3.73%), Natal (-1.40%) and Belém (-1.16%).

When comparing the cost of the basket and the net minimum wage, after the 7.5% Social Security discount, the worker paid at the national floor committed, on average, 58.78% of his income to purchase food in October, says the Dieese.

The percentage was above the one verified in September (58.10%). A year earlier, in October 2021, the proportion was at 58.35%.

Basket below R$ 600 only in five capitals

On the eve of the elections, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) bet on expanding the Auxílio Brasil to R$600 as a way to mitigate the impacts of high prices among the poorest.

Now, the team of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who won the dispute at the polls, is looking for fiscal space to pay for the benefit from 2023. The program should go back to being called Bolsa Família in the new PT government.

Only 5 of the 17 capitals analyzed by Dieese had a basic basket below R$ 600 in October. All are in the Northeast region: Natal (R$ 573.40), Salvador (R$ 562.59), João Pessoa (R$ 559.57), Recife (R$ 558.40) and Aracaju (R$ 515.51 ).

Porto Alegre, on the other hand, was the capital where basic foodstuffs had the highest cost (R$ 768.82), according to Dieese. São Paulo (R$762.20), Florianópolis (R$753.82) and Rio de Janeiro (R$736.28) came next.