The profit margin for Gran Canaria's hoteliers now fits on the nail of a pinky finger. And that of families on the nail of a toe. The AIEM (Spanish Tax on Income Tax), that tax that Brussels blessed at the request of the island's industrial lobby, bites into bread as if it were fresh meat. And here, for a loaf of bread to cross the Peninsula-Canary Islands route, you have to pass through the few remaining mills and a tax Frankenstein that was born to protect local companies that are now bankrupt or in foreign hands.
From flour to frozen bread, everything goes through the Frankenstein kitchen. The AIEM is a Victor Frankenstein monster called Brussels, created to protect local industry. And at the port, like Robert Walton, shipping companies, importers, and large retailers like Mercadona, Carrefour, Lidl, Auchan, Alcampo, and El Corte Inglés tell the tale while the monster continues to take its toll.
Meanwhile, rising global agricultural prices are making it difficult for Canarian families to breathe. The Canary Islands depend on more than 80% of wheat imported from abroad to fill both their family pantries and the buffets of southern hotels with bread, pastries, and cookies. Without boats, there's no bread, without bread, there's no continental breakfast, and without breakfast, tourists wake up grumpy.
Food inflation is already approaching 9% according to ISTAC. The island is footing the bill for a global market rocked by wars in the Black Sea, freight rates that rise and fall like the tides, and harvests ruined by drought in Canada and Australia or late rains in Europe. Last week in Chicago, hard winter wheat (HRW) rose 7,5%, soft winter wheat (SRW) 3,5%, and hard winter wheat (HRS) 3,25%. Translated into euros: €230/ton for HRW, €195 for SRW, and €220 for HRS.
Corn, which is used as feed and bread for livestock here, climbed 2,5% to around €170/ton, despite a cumulative decline of 16% so far this year. Soybeans, that invisible cooking oil and a mainstay for livestock, reached €390/ton with a slight rebound. All this amid a scenario where the United States is pressuring China to buy more, and nervous prices are responding.
Yes, freight rates from the Black Sea to Asia are down compared to last year, a temporary respite, but they don't take the storm away. Southern Gran Canaria, which thrives on tourism like a sailor thrives on the port, sees its food bill rise and customers' smiles shrink. Here, food sovereignty is a mere toast; the reality is that we continue to eat from the plate served to us by the global market... and at a golden price.
And in the end, the Frankenstein tax is still there, with its screw and its scar, taking its toll on every bar that crosses the ocean. It doesn't matter if it's for a five-star hotel or a family's table in Vecindario: the monster always wants its share.
