Easter: cod prefers olive oil – 03/28/2024 – Market

When preparing this year’s Easter dinner, cod is no longer the item that weighs most on consumers’ pockets, giving way to olive oil. The average price for salting fish remained stable compared to the same date last year. Olive oil has accumulated an increase of 45.62% in the last 12 months, according to Fipe (Fundação Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas).

For sellers at the São Paulo Municipal Market, the seasonal search for cod and average prices kept sales stable compared to 2023, with customers choosing to buy olive oil in supermarket chains to get a better price.

Júlio César Alves Teixeira, 28, owner of one of Mercadão’s stalls, says that the search for cod is busy this year, with a tendency to increase even more in the final stretch until Easter.

“The forecast is that the average sales will remain the same this year. As the price of cod has not increased much, customers have been looking a lot. But as olive oil has increased a lot, sales have decreased this year. I believe this is because of the price, people only look for cod”, he says.

According to Fipe, cod has a negative index, with a price reduction of -2.97%. Fish, an alternative to salting fish, increased by 4.38%, with the most notable item being croaker, with inflation of 8.11%.

The slight increase in the final price of cod is caused by the devaluation of the real against the dollar, an increase in global demand due to seasonality and a smaller harvest in Portugal, the main exporter.

At the Municipal Market, gadus morhua cod remains at an average price compared to last year, with a kilo costing no less than R$100. Boxes offer other salted fish options to guarantee sales, including in different cuts — shredded, for example—with values ​​starting at R$79.90.

Maurício Carvalho Ribeiro, 42, who went to Mercadão to buy Easter lunch items, says he felt a slight increase in the price of fish compared to last Easter.

“The price is a little steep, but it didn’t feel like much, it wasn’t a huge increase. Now, olive oil has seen a good increase, R$50 for a little olive oil. The best way will be to buy it at the supermarket to get a lower price counts,” he says.

Brazil is one of the main importers of olive oil in the world, and high prices are reducing the country’s share in this market. The rise in price is due to the drought that hit Spain and Portugal, which lost half of their production in 2023.

According to Apas (Associação Paulista de Supermercados), olive oil continues to rise, with an increase of 3.83% in February, resulting in an increase of 45.6% in the last 12 months.

All stores in the Municipal Market visited by Sheet reported having passed on the increase in olive oil to the end customer and that many consumers are choosing to buy only cod this Easter.

Yuri Levi, 30, owner of one of the stalls at Mercadão, says that, with Easter earlier this year, planning for the stock of items began in December 2023.

“The price of cod stabilized in December, I felt it even dropped slightly, olive oil increased a lot, but we had stock since December, so we were able to pass on as little of the increase as possible to maintain a reasonable price. But sales decreased a lot , consumers are not buying.”