The proceedings follow inspections of 960 operators which led ASAE to detect profit margins of more than 50% on onions.

These conclusions form part of this authority's latest analysis of the rise in food prices, which was presented at a press conference at the Ministry of Economy and the Sea, in Lisbon.

"960 economic operators were inspected [...] and we instituted 51 criminal proceedings for speculation", advanced the inspector general of ASAE, Pedro Portugal Gaspar.

ASAE also filed 91 administrative offense proceedings, within the scope of these actions that have been running since the second half of 2022.