The increase in prices unleashed by the war in Ukraine will cost Italian families almost 9 billion euros in 2022 for food spending alone, due to the effect of inflation that mainly affects the weakest categories.
This is what emerges from Coldiretti's analysis, based on Istat data on Italian consumption and inflation trends in the first six months of the year, released at the association's National Assembly in Rome.
"Leading the ranking of price increases is vegetables which this year will cost families 1.97 billion more - underlines Coldiretti - and precedes bread, pasta and rice on the podium, with an increase of 1.65 billion, and meat and cured meats, for which expenditure is estimated to be 1.54 billion higher than in 2021.
The categories "mineral waters, soft drinks and juices", "sugar, jams, honey, chocolate and sweets", "coffee, tea and cocoa" and "salt, condiments and baby food" follow with smaller additional outlays.
A situation that increases inflation and with it the area of food poverty "whose tip of the indexberg in Italy are 2.6 million people who are even forced to ask for help to eat", according to a Coldiretti analysis based on Fead data. published in reference to the Istat annual report, "which sees the number of people in absolute poverty in Italy rise to 5.6 million".
To push the price increases and the increase in food dependence from abroad, Coldiretti observes on the basis of Istat data for the first five months of the year, "