Carrots experience record 12-month price increase: farm products are current villains of inflation

Shopping for groceries is becoming increasingly difficult in Brazil: a survey by FGV IBRE shows that in the last 12 months, the 31 farm products in FGV’s Consumer Price Index went up 24.35% on average. In this period, the biggest price rise was experienced by vegetables (31.43% on average), followed fruit (10.87%). Farm product inflation was nearly three times general inflation as measured by FGV’s Consumer Price Index (9.2%).

These price increases are the subject of numerous memes on social media and conversations between all Brazilians. One example is carrots, whose price more than doubled in the last 12 months (up 121.18%). The list of 10 items with the sharpest price rises only contains one item that went up less than 20%: carrots (121.18%), passion fruit (62.61%), papaya (61.67%), tomatoes (55.87%), bell peppers (46.29%), cabbage (36.05%), watermelon (34.2%), cassava (27.26%), lettuce (26.2%) and coriander (19.53%). At the other end of the scale, only five types of fruit went down in price: strawberries (-1.39%), apples (-4.12%), tangerines (-5.99%), dwarf bananas (-7.85%) and limes (-10.05%).

According to Matheus Peçanha, a researcher and economist at FGV IBRE, farming has suffered a lot in the last year from weather problems, including an unparalleled and generalized drought, resulting from the La Niña weather phenomenon, excessive rainfall in southeast Brazil and localized droughts in the Midwest. “Taken together, these supply shocks have played a decisive role in recent increases in fruit and vegetable prices”, he says. “The problem of excessive rainfall in southeastern Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, which account for half the carrots grown in Brazil, had the biggest impact on raising the price of this item”.