The shopping trolley becomes lighter together with the wallets. And the Italians go back in time almost 30 years. According to a report published today by Intesa SanPaolo, in our country consumption of food, beverages and tobacco fell by 1,5% at constant prices in 2011. In terms of per capita spending, “it has to come back in the early 80s to go down to below 2.400 euros per year intended for the agri-food sector".
In detail, "it is partly a structural trend linked to the lower consumption of some items, such as tobacco, but which also signals the obvious difficulties of the Italian consumer who, in the face of tensions on the labor market and disposable income, further reduces waste and moderates purchases even in a sector of needs that cannot be compressed such as agri-food".
But that's not all: "the increase in unemployment combined with the effects of the fiscal correction maneuvers on households leads us to foresee a further reduction in consumption", which "will continue to be very cautious in the face of increasingly scarce income resources".
According to the latest Istat data, on average in 2011 gross wages in industry and services as a whole grew by 2,2%. This is one of the lowest values in recent years, equaling the lows of 2009, when there was a negative rebound effect on the previous year (linked to a concentration of contract renewals) and 2007. It is one of the worst data from the most recent years.
