Essential Grocery Prices Rise 27% Within 3 Years

Essential Food Basket Reaches New High in April

Since 2022, DECO Proteste has been monitoring food prices on a weekly basis. Every Wednesday, the organization compiles price data from major supermarket chains with online stores. The final basket price is determined by averaging the prices of 63 essential products across different retailers.

The price increase within these 3 years has reached 27.06% by today. This surpasses official inflation numbers which from 2022 to 2024 have been at approximately 8.6%. (inflation numbers for 2025 are not yet available).

Three years ago, on January 5, 2022, when DECO Proteste started monitoring this basket of 63 essential goods, it cost €50.80 less (27.06% less).

DECO Proteste

Top 10 Food Price Increases Since 2022

According to DECOProteste, these are the Top 10 of the highest price increases for groceries between January 5, 2022, and April 3, 2025.

Over the past ten years, the average gross monthly wage in the Region has grown by 29%. This increase translates to a gain of about 20%, after deducting inflation recorded between 2015 and 2024.

The average gross monthly pay of workers in Madeira increased by 29% between 2015 and 2024.

President Miguel Albuquerque claiming, Madeirans had a net gain since 2015

What Is Driving the Price Increases?

These jumps in price reflect a broader trend of inflation in essential groceries. Today’s announcement by Donald Trump to apply tariffs on foreign countries is set to further drive price for groceries soon. Wars, Energy costs, fertilizer shortages, and extreme weather patterns have contributed to higher costs for basic food products. This has led to persistent food price inflation, despite some stabilization in overall inflation rates, mainly driven by relatively high interest rates.

Source: DECO PROTeste