Malaga people are buying their festive food earlier to avoid last-minute price hikes

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Fish, seafood and sausages are the items already flying off the shelves in the shops and markets, ahead of the traditional Christmas and New Year's Eve dinners for the family

Juan Soto

Malaga

Wednesday, 17 December 2025, 20:10

María Pérez goes to the Atarazanas market in Malaga city centre ready to visit all the stalls in the fishmonger's area. She went there last week, but she realised that she hadn't correctly calculated the amount of food she would need to prepare the dinner for Christmas Eve. "I'm buying little by little and this way I notice it less," she says, referring to food prices and her grocery bill at this time of year.

Her case is not exceptional. Pérez is just one of the people who have started to stock the pantry and the fridge these days to prepare for Christmas, with the intention of saving some money and getting ahead of a probable rise in prices. "You can't leave it to the last minute because everything goes up so much afterwards," she says.

Weeks before the main part of the festivities, many people have already stocked up on all kinds of typical products. Since the beginning of November, the sale of cold meats, hams, seafood and fresh fish has soared in all shops and markets.

Some purchases are brought forward to November due to Black Friday anticipation

General director of the Andalusian confederation of food and perfumery businesses (CAEA) Álvaro González Zafra confirms that, every year, sales start earlier in all sectors, even in the food sector. "People want to take advantage of reduced prices and are buying as early as possible," he states.

González Zafra says that people have started buying products for their Christmas menu as early as November, especially since supermarkets have also adopted the Black Friday discount model. "Sales are brought forward mainly because of prices, as food has risen by more than 30% since 2022 and price is a determining factor," he says.

CAEA represents 26 companies, including Mercadona, GM Food and Maskom. The head of this association says that, despite everything, the people of Malaga maintain their consumption during the Christmas season because Spain is a country of traditions. "We have many gatherings at Christmas and there is a financial effort being made, even if it is now planned further in advance," he says.

President of the fish wholesalers' association of Mercamálaga Pilar López has also noticed more activity over the last few weeks. "November was not particularly good, but since the beginning of December, sales have picked up a lot." Like the rest of her colleagues, she has noticed that "customers are less and less inclined to leave their shopping to the last minute".

Experts advise against leaving Christmas shopping for the last minute

Based on her experience and observations in recent years, López states that "these weeks are the best time to guarantee a good price", without denying that products are more expensive the closer we get to the holidays, with the weeks of 23-24 and 30-31 December seeing the highest rise. She advises against waiting until the last minute.

López is also the owner of Congelados Lopemar, which is registering sales at cruising speed. "Many clients have already bought and paid us, but they ask us to keep it for them until the last day due to lack of space," she says. According to her, prawns, crab legs and scarlet shrimp are the most popular products, "typical for this time of year".

General manager of the Maskom supermarket chain Sergio Cuberos says that the people of Malaga have been buying since November, which is when they start to introduce pre-Christmas offers. "We have a lot of orders and fish is what they try to buy as early as possible."

He has observed that cold meats, hams, fish and seafood are the earliest purchased products at this time of year. Meat and ready meals, on the other hand, tend to be purchased a bit later. "People are short of money and this is noticeable. We believe that the season is going to be similar to last year, although everyone is making a little effort to achieve this," he says.

Back at the market, María Pérez says that this year she will not be able to buy everything she would like to "because some products are at almost restrictive prices". The household economy is not in a position for much excess and for this reason it is obligatory to "compare a lot, both in terms of price and quality".

Lina Naranjo is also in the same fishmonger's area. She says that last weekend she left the freezer almost empty to load it with food for Christmas. "Although there are a lot of us at home, I'm in charge of preparing the food," she states. She is looking for medium-sized sea bream and prawns but doesn't want to spend too much. "If I can't find it at the price I want, I'll look for it frozen and that way I'll get it sorted out."