The key ingredient of the Torrijas has shot in price. That does not mean that they will be more expensive

God squeezes, but does not drown. Not at least if we talk about Torrijas. Although the ovoflation threatened to shoot record levels The cost of one of the typical Sweet cheaper That just a year ago. About 20%. And the reason is simple: perhaps the dozen eggs has more expensive in recent months, but other ingredients, such as Olive oil And sugar, have softened their price.

After all, Torrijas are more than a sweet tasty: they are also a curious (and interesting) indicator of how the purchase basket evolves.

Don’t say torrijas, say economics. It occurs sometimes that a dish ends up becoming an economic and social thermometer. An example is The “pizzometro”an informal indicator that according to some experts is activated just before global crises. Another clear case is THE BIC MAC INDEXa way of measuring inflation with hamburgers. And a third example is the Waffle House indexwhich allows US authorities to calculate the scope of storms with gofres.

In Spain we have The Torrijas. Its combination of bread, milk, sugar, oil and eggs makes them a curious indicator of how IPC evolves. So He claims Sara Herrero, director of Business & Talent by EAE Business School, for whom the sweet is a “good thermometer of the basic basket basket of the basic products of Spanish families.” The problem is that in full ovoflationthis Holy Week that indicator has looked at each other with a special concern.

Why’s that? Because Torrijas recipe includes eggs. And these have been expensive exponentially over the last months. In March the OCU calculated that in alone A few weeks The price of the dozen medium eggs had increased about 25%. And the Updated data Facua show that since then they have not been cheaper in most linear.

Moreover, the tables prepared by the Toledo Lonja either Bellpuig They reflect that in some cases the price of the eggs has increased, which is in tune with the data collected by the INE itself. His last IPC confirms that in the last month the eggs took care 7.2%well above the general index.

Prohibitive Torrijas? That is what some have feared in recent weeks: that in view of the escalation in the price of eggs, with the effect of avian flu and the ovoflation From the United States as a backdrop, tortals fired their price this Holy Week. There are even those who until recently warned that we would meet the “most expensive” sweets.

It does not seem to be like that. And not because the eggs are going to be reduced in the short term. The key is other ingredients of the toast that today come out much cheaper than a year ago, which has damping the ovoflation. This concludes A study From EAE Business School, which after analyzing the latest segregated IPC data calculates that preparing Torrijas will come out 19% cheaper that in 2024.

Sugar and oil, rescue. According to EAEthe key to the cheaper is in olive oil and sugar, ingredients that are also used in Easter sweet. The first has seen how its price was reduced by 32%. The second, 15%. Taking into account that today these resources are cheaper, the agency estimates that, in general, the recipe will cost almost 20% less than in 2024.

Some calculations go further and suggest the dessert will come out this year 27% cheaper. EAE calculations were made with the Segregated data of the IPC of the month of February. If analyzed those of Marchthe percentage can vary. The reason: the year-on-year IPC last month was more favorable if we talk about olive oil (-37.9%) and sugar (-15.6%), but much worse when we examine the cost of eggs. His interannual rise was that month of the 11.4% compared to 3.8% in February.

And the rest of the ingredients? Torrijas are not made solely with eggs, olive oil and sugar. But we analyze The rest of the ingredients We see that its variation with respect to 2024 is not so marked. The PAN recorded in March an interannual CPI of 1.8%, below the general index of 2.3%. The milk did exceed that value slightly, scoring 3.2%, but the increase is minimal compared to that of eggs. What became more expensive is energy.

The EAE study concludes that in 2025 the Torrijas will break in any case the tendency to become more expensive that they had been dragging over the last years, which does not mean that in general today they leave much more expensive than four years ago. The agency calculates in particular that the increase was about 53%.

Images | Moritz Barcelona (Flickr) and TNARIK INNAEL (Flickr)

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