It’s not just high fuel prices: October saw record price rises for technology and fresh food, whilst butter and oil prices fell
The rise in prices is affecting digital media and vegetables in particular, whilst some dairy products and oils are seeing price falls, which are having varying effects on Italians’ purchasing power.
Inflation in October 2026 showed a year-on-year increase of +5.4 per cent. This inflationary pressure has not been confined to the energy and fuel sectors: in a country where road freight transport dominates, the high fuel prices of recent months have led to rising costs in other sectors as well. This is the case, for instance, with certain technological goods and fresh foodstuffs; on the other hand, there are sectors bucking the trend, where prices are showing reassuring declines.
Technology and utility bills top the list of price rises
The biggest increase by far was seen in an unexpected category: unformatted storage media (such as SD cards and USB sticks), which recorded a record rise of +107.8 per cent compared with the same month last year. In the technology and electronics sector, cost pressures are being widely felt: information and communication accessories rose by +41.1 per cent, followed by computers, laptops and tablets, which recorded a jump of +29.5 per cent. These are all sectors affected by the ‘chip war’, which is also feeling the pressure from competing demand for materials required for artificial intelligence.
Petrol and the price cap
Naturally, energy costs continue to place a significant burden on household budgets. Regulated energy prices rose by +59.5 per cent, driven by liquid fuels (+45.5 per cent), natural gas supplied via the network (+38.5 per cent) and electricity (+35.8 per cent). In the transport and private mobility sector, diesel fuel rose by +37.6 per cent, significantly outpacing the increase seen for petrol (+19.4 per cent), which was less pronounced thanks to the price cap imposed by some companies.
Fruit and vegetables and services: where prices are rising
Turning our attention to the grocery shopping basket, inflation is hitting certain types of fresh produce particularly hard. Fruit vegetables (such as tomatoes, peppers and aubergines) have jumped by +30.9 per cent, alongside berries and wild berries (+29.3 per cent). Double-digit increases are also seen in vegetables with leaves and stems (+13.0 per cent) and fresh pulses (+11.7 per cent).
In the services, personal care and leisure sector, the most notable increases were seen in the hire and repair of sports equipment (+16.6 per cent), jewellery and watches (+11.3%), paid domestic services (+9.7%) and passenger air transport (+8.8%).
