Brazil registered deflation in July, which signals an average fall in prices. Despite this decline in general, food is still weighing on Brazilians’ pockets. According to the IPCA (Ample National Consumer Price Index) for July, the food and beverage group rose 14.72% in the last 12 months.
Among the foods that suffered the most in the period were papaya (99.39%), watermelon (81.60%), onion (75.15%), strawberry (73.86%) and potato (66 .82%).
Today, the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) publishes the official inflation for August, and the market expectation is that the index will have another reduction. The preview of August’s inflation registered a drop of 0.73%, while foodstuffs rose 1.12% in the month.
According to Daniel Miraglia, chief economist at Integral Group, food prices are still impacted by the war between Russia and Ukraine. As both countries are major producers of agricultural inputs, the war reduces supply and raises prices for international markets.
Also, Miraglia says that the covid-19 pandemic has reduced the supply of food around the world. Then there was a further reduction in production with the war in Ukraine. For him, prices should continue to rise at a slightly slower pace until the beginning of next year.
Source: brazil.postsen.com