The combined rise in prices for food and fuel is costing Portuguese families who own gasoline-powered cars an average extra cost of 81.20 euros per month. This value results from the sum of the increase in domestic food expenses and the direct rise in road fuel prices since the beginning of January 2026.
The basket of 63 essential food items monitored by DECO PROteste reached 255.26 euros, representing a weekly increase of 13.34 euros compared to values at the beginning of the year. Projected to a monthly period, this increase translates to a surcharge of 57.80 euros just to maintain the same provisioning level. The products with the highest percentage changes in the last week were fresh fish and horticultural products, with mackerel rising 23 percent to 5.46 euros per kilogram, zucchini increasing 20 percent to 2.15 euros per kilogram, and tuna steak in olive oil becoming 17 percent more expensive to 2.21 euros per unit.
In the fuel sector, regular 95 octane gasoline went from 1.705 euros per liter in the first week of January to 2.142 euros per liter in September, an increase of 43.7 cents per liter. Simple diesel followed the same trend, rising from 1.624 euros to 2.169 euros per liter, representing an increase of 54.5 cents per liter, according to data from the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology and the Energy Services Regulatory Authority.
For a gasoline-powered passenger vehicle with an annual mileage of 10,000 kilometers and an average consumption of 6.5 liters per 100 kilometers, the monthly fuel cost increased from 92.36 euros to 116.03 euros, representing a monthly increase of 23.67 euros. Adding this value to the additional spending on domestic food, the rise in prices for inelastic goods removes an additional 81.47 euros from the monthly financial availability of each Portuguese family.
