Potato and onion, among the most expensive foods in Colombia in the first quarter of 2022

The National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane) announced in recent weeks that annual inflation in Colombia closed in the first quarter of 2022 at 8.53%, which caused the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to increase by 7.02 percentage points compared to the same period last year. That is why consumers observed a rise in food prices during the third month of the year.

According to the entity, between January and March of this year, the food and non-alcoholic beverages category continued to drive inflation, registering a 10.22 per cent increase in consumer prices during the first quarter, with potatoes being the product whose cost increased the most: 54.68 per cent.

The tuber was followed by onions as one of the foods that have had the highest price increase so far this year. According to the Dane report, vegetables increased by 44.45 per cent, followed by cassava, with 38.31 per cent.

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Other products in the family basket that were also affected by inflation during the first quarter of 2022 were: bananas (with prices rising by 34.32 per cent); tomatoes (30.20 per cent); oranges (29.88 per cent); blackberries (26.73 per cent) and fresh fruits (17.21 per cent).

Compared to the liquor category, the statistical entity indicated that, during the first three months of 2022, the alcoholic beverages in which prices increased the most were: beers, with 3.1%; whiskey, rum, brandy, vodka, gin, cognac, tequila, liqueur creams and aperitifs, with 3.1%; and brandy by 1.39%.

The director of Dane, Juan Daniel Oviedo, also announced during the presentation of the report that the category of goods and services for ordinary household maintenance was another of the 12 expenditure groups that reported the largest increase in prices in the first months of the year, with a variation of 7.54 per cent.

“Cleaning products are exerting inflationary pressure based fundamentally on costs, because the costs of chemicals for the production of detergent, bar soap, washing powder and dish soap are seeing increases in their costs that are being passed on to users of homes”, explained Oviedo.

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According to the statistical entity, the items in this category that had the greatest increases in price were: cleaning and maintenance products (15.38%), toiletries (8.63%) and stoves, ovens and gas pipettes (7.59%).

On the other hand, the products whose prices increased to a lesser extent were “decorative items (0.45%), ready-made bedding (1.85%) and hardware items (2.34%)”.

El Dane concluded its quarterly report by noting that, between January and March of this year, the category that reported the lowest price increase was Information and Communication, whose variation was only -0.02%, thus becoming the lowest reported so far in 2022.

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