From mid-2021 to today, prices in Italy have recorded a historic surge, with triple-digit price increases on some products and services.
The ranking of the 10 goods that have increased the most in the last three years has been updated by the National Consumers Union, starting from the recent ISTAT publication on Italian inflation in May.
Taking into consideration the 0.8% annual and 0.2% monthly increase in prices in the last month, the list of goods and services has been drawn up which from mid-2021 – when the phase of the inflationary race began – until May 2024 experienced the largest increase. The result is a list of products and services, even for everyday use, that consumers have paid for at record price increases.
The context of such high prices is the result of a mix of factors which has impacted the supply chains, especially of raw materials. The pandemic first and the war in Ukraine afterwards changed trade dynamics forever and broke the balance between supply and demand. The most obvious consequence of upheavals of this magnitude has been the run-up of inflation.
The ranking of the 10 products with the greatest price increase in 3 years in Italy is evidence of the ongoing inflationary alarm; olive oil certainly stands out among the products, which is also suffering the effects of drought due to climate change and which could therefore continue to increase in price as supply tightens.
Economy
June 1, 2024
International flights +132.3%, but Gas (+50.2%), Electricity (+39.5%), rice, pasta, flour, eggs and bread return to the ranking
June 1, 2024
The list of price increases sees international flights at the top with a price increase of +132.3%, first and consolidated position, followed in second place, as we wrote just above, by olive oil with price increases of 93.5% and in third place last place on the podium is still flights, this time domestic with a nice +55.1%. Sugar comes in fourth with +51.6%, then gas +50.2%. Rice and potatoes compete for fifth and sixth place at 45.1 and 43.3% respectively.
Hotels, motels and guesthouses could not be missing from the price increases ranking with 41.5% more than three years ago, ninth position is for electricity which has increased in price by 39.5% and finally tenth place for ice creams with a nice +37.8%.
Despite remaining outside the top ten ranking, some basic products for our daily lives are still very expensive and with prices that are on the rise compared to three years ago. Pasta, for example, has an increase in price of 27.3% and preserved milk of 34%. In just one year, therefore compared to May 2023, oil costs 44% more and in a month, from April to May 2024, fresh fruit jumped to first place in the increase ranking with an increase of 6.2 %.
Geopolitical tensions, extreme weather phenomena, speculation are still valid alarms due to the rising effects on prices, even in Italy.
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