BARGAIN FOOD

PALMA/MADRID
FOOD prices dropped more than 3 percent between April and June this year at all the main stores across the country - in hypermarkets , department stores and supermarkets - a government report said yesterday
A retail food price survey for the second quarter of 2009 confirmed that shopping at hypermarkets usually provides the best bargains for ready prepared food, fruit, vegetables and fish whilst the small supermarkets have traditionally given the best prices for meat.

The report made price comparisons across the major cities of the country showing that the cost of food dropped from between 1 percent to 7.5 percent during April, May and June this year. The development which had most contributed to the downturn, said the survey, was the availability of fruit and vegetables at prices 10 percent below what they had been in previous months. Avila emerged as the city with the most economical household food bill, whilst Pamplona, Bilbao and Girona registered the highest.