Summer days call for a salad or fresh fish, but the reality is that shopping for these products has become more expensive. A summer basket now costs nearly seven euros more than it did two years ago, according to data released by DECO PROTeste this Friday.
Calculations show the summer basket costs 51.11 euros this week, which is 0.99 euros less compared to last week, but it is 6.94 euros more expensive than two years ago:
“Between August 23, 2023, and August 20, 2025, there is a difference of 6.94 euros when compared to the same basket on these two days (15.73%),” states a report from the consumer protection organization to Notícias ao Minuto.
It is worth noting that this basket “includes 12 products commonly used during summer: pork steak, whole chicken, bass, gilt-head bream, horse mackerel, extra virgin olive oil, Frankfurt sausages, roasted ground coffee, curly lettuce, plum tomatoes, onions, and red potatoes”.
Curly Lettuce Stands Out (and Not for the Best Reasons)
The analysis by DECO PROTeste highlights one of the key salad ingredients for reasons that aren’t favorable: “curly lettuce had the largest increase since last week and saw almost a 40% rise compared to the same period last year“.
Over the past week, in addition to lettuce, pork steak, roasted ground coffee, which continues to see price increases, as well as whole chicken and gilt-head bream, stand out.
When observing the past month, curly lettuce still leads the price increases, closely followed by plum tomatoes and horse mackerel.
However, in comparison to two years ago, roasted ground coffee stands out the most, with its price skyrocketing 80% during this period, a rise exceeding two euros.
This week, roasted ground coffee reached “the highest price of the year”. According to the analysis from DECO PROTeste published on Thursday, “in the first week of the year, consumers spent 3.81 euros to buy exactly the same coffee package”.
Notícias ao Minuto | 11:36 – 16/08/2025
DECO PROTeste notes that this and other price simulations can be performed using a tool provided by the consumer protection organization – you can access it here.
How Is the Inflation Rate?
The National Institute of Statistics (INE) confirmed last week that the inflation rate accelerated to 2.6% in July, as indicated by the provisional estimate released at the end of last month.
“The year-on-year change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.6% in July, a rate 0.2 percentage points (p.p.) higher than that observed in the previous month,” reads the INE report.
The underlying inflation indicator – total index excluding unprocessed food and energy products – recorded a variation of 2.5% (2.4% in June).
The year-on-year change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.6% in July, a rate 0.2 percentage points (p.p.) higher than that observed in the previous month, confirmed the INE this Tuesday.
Beatriz Vasconcelos | 11:08 – 12/08/2025
