Potato, strawberry and passion fruit lead inflation; see items that have gone up the most

The potato was the consumer item most impacted by inflation in April, with a rise of 18.28% in the month, as reported this Wednesday (11) by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

Overall, the country’s official inflation, measured by the IPCA (National Consumer Price Index – Broad) hit 1.06% in the month, the highest variation for a month of April since 1996. In 12 months, inflation was 12.13%.

In food and beverages, the increase was driven by the increase in food for consumption at home (2.59%). In addition to potatoes, long-life milk was also a highlight in the month, with an increase of 10.31%.

There was also an increase in items that have always been part of the daily diet of Brazilians, such as tomatoes (10.18%), soy oil (8.24%), French bread (4.52%) and meats (1 .02%).

Economists attribute the increases to a different set of factors. For soybean oil, the result is more related to the rise in commodities, which ends up influencing production costs.

In natura foods, such as potatoes and tomatoes, there were harvest problems, explains the researcher. For milk, production costs weighed.

At the other end, the main monthly drops were papaya (-13.39%), apple banana (-8.46%) and watermelon (-8.38%).

​In 12 months, the scenario is of expressive rises in items that were disappearing from the family menu, such as carrots (178.02%), tomatoes (103.26%) and ground coffee (67.53%).

High fuel prices also scare consumers. In the case of transport, inflation in April was driven, above all, by the increase in fuel prices (3.20%). As in the previous month, the highlight was gasoline (2.48%).

In the month, ethanol rose 8.44%; diesel, 4.74% and bottled gas, 3.32%. In 12 months, diesel oil occupies the highest increase (53.58%), followed by ethanol (42.11%), bottled gas (32.34%) and gasoline (31.22%).

In April, the main impacts of inflation came from the food and beverage sectors (2.06%) and transport (1.91%). Together, the two groups contributed around 80% of the April IPCA.