Restaurants putting up prices. | S. Cases

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Bars, restaurants and cafés in the Balearic Islands have hiked their prices up by around 20% in the last month to absorb the rise in prices for produce from mainland Spain.

"The worst is yet to come, because some basic products have gone up by 160% since the beginning of the year and they’re still rising,» says Association of Food, Beverage & Cleaning Distributors President, Bartomeu Servera.

«The increasing cost of food products is never ending and some companies in the Balearic Islands will assume these costs, but others are already passing them on to customers,» adds CAEB Restauración President, Alfornso Robledo. «Companies are applying all kinds of strategies to cope with the rising price of raw materials and soaring energy prices.

Many restaurateurs are changing their menus and eliminating fried dishes, so that they use less electricity and gas.

«Some restaurants have decided not to put up their prices because competition is fierce, especially in Palma, but they’re not so squeamish about raising prices in the main tourist areas,» says Robledo who warned that goods that have to be refrigerated will also be more expensive in summer.

High inflation and more expensive freight prices is also pushing up prices.

«The situation is already unaffordable because prices keep going up and so does demand,» said the President of the Association of Freight Carriers of the FEBT , Ezequiel Horrach.

Mallorca and the other Balearic Islands are being labelled as expensive destinations because food and drinks prices have gone up, which has raised fears that tourists will opt for other resorts in the Mediterranean.