As many as 15 million Italians have cut back on food spending this year, buying less overall and purchasing poorer quality produce, CIA farmers' association said Thursday.
New figures from ISTAT official statistics institute showed spending in small retailers fell by 1.2% in May, by 1.1% in hypermarkets and by 0.9% in supermarkets despite a rash of special offers and discounts designed to tempt shoppers.
"Despite very high promotional pressure the family budgets have been re-sized so much by the decline in incomes and in spending power that one Italian out of two continues to buy only the essential, and does so increasingly in discount stores," CIA said in a statement. "This is the only form of distribution that continues to grow, with sales up by 2.4% in May and by 3.1% in the first five months of 2014," the CIA statement said.
The farmers' alarm was echoed by consumer pressure groups Federconsumatori and Adusbef, saying that the decline in sales recorded by ISTAT "is just the latest of many alarm signals on the financial crisis facing families".
In particular, food spending has tumbled with a decline in sales of fish and meat pointing to the "deep difficulty" facing families, the consumer groups added.
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