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UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

grocerygazette.co.uk

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Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#141

Post by surement »

engineeringwoke wrote: post #98
legitster wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there was a magical point in consolidation that let them increase the price of eggs ad hoc. Or a magic 'greed' button that they refused to hit before now. Why not just make it $30 an egg? > They didn't have the pricing power/their customers didn't have the tolerance for rising prices/ Just for everyone's sanity, it's WAY easier to believe that there are underlying market conditions that should be addres…

> Or a magic 'greed' button that they refused to hit before now. There's some empirical evidence from Australia that this is exactly what they did. Also an island nation that heavily imports food https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/24/an-economic...

there's also "empirical evidence" that minimum wage laws don't lead to unemployment, that doesn't make it true

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#142

Post by lm28469 »

boc wrote: post #35

Demand for food is inelastic, so it makes sense that companies are raising prices as high as possible since people still have to eat. Generally this leads to price competition from other food brands, but when single companies own dozens/hundreds of food brands it’s easy to act like a cartel and keep prices high.

> so it makes sense that companies are raising prices as high as possible since people still have to eat.

Even drug dealers aren't that greedy

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#143

Post by Aachen »

_Wintermute wrote: post #87

For reference, that's a fairly average value for Europe at the moment. Not sure why the UK is being singled out. https://i.redd.it/8hbhiqhowjpa1.png

I'm curious why the values aren't identical to within rounding errors for countries like the Netherlands and Belgium which are nearly the same size, in essentially the same location, and don't have different amounts of welfare like north/south Korea or USA/MX.

Can't be that one has tech or purchasing power that the other doesn't, or that food needs to travel a lot further, and I would also not expect vastly different foreign relations (also because EU, but also because the countries are so similar in beliefs and histories).

And similar for slightly different but still nearby and similar countries like Germany, Luxemburg, and the UK. Anyone know what causes these differences?

Edit: to answer your question, I wouldn't look for meaning behind that but rather assume that a limited scope article is a lot easier to write than a broadly scoped one. In the ~global context of HN, the headline then sounds like they're singled out.

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#144

Post by illiarian »

jorts wrote: post #66
illiarian wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't quote it to contradict the situation.

The way you phrased it made it seem that way. Starting with "Meanwhile" is a common way of introducing a contradictory scenario.

It might be my own idiosyncrasies coming through (non-native speaker + how we use the term among friends to point out stupid stuff)

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#145

Post by maffydub »

GalenErso wrote: post #10

As someone who doesn't live in the UK, the impression I get from headlines is that the UK is becoming poorer by the day, the NHS has collapsed, crime is exploding, poverty is rising, most people can't afford anything anymore, the Royal Mail is hanging by a thread, and the economy is in free fall. What's the reality? In London and outside?

I live in London and am married with 2 kids, working in tech. Personally, I'm not seeing too much difference.

* Energy prices are higher, and this has had a knock-on effect, but I see it more on childcare (e.g. nursery) than food.

* There have been shortages of some foods - specifically there were shortages of tomatoes and peppers for a week or two a month or two ago, but not recently... and there are shortages of eggs, which I understand from my cousins, who are egg farmers, is primarily due to bird flu (most eggs in the UK are from British hens).

* Regarding NHS, we've not needed to use hospitals recently, but access to GPs has been same as usual.

* I've not seen an increase in crime.

* I hear that poverty is rising, but don't have direct experience.

* The Royal Mail is almost certainly dying, but I think it's been on its way out for years.

Like I say, this is just personal experience - I appreciate that I'm quite lucky at having an OK-paying job, so could well be insulated from problems that others face.

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#146

Post by _Wintermute »

legitster wrote: post #97
_Wintermute wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, the biggest factor is how supermarkets source their produce in the UK.

Uh, how does one source produce except through imports? A weak Pound will make it more expensive. Even for things that can be domestically produced, like greenhouse tomatoes, they will still be more expensive even if they are now competitive with imports. And for items like rice and couscous you're not really going to be able to domestically produce them anyway.

The pound isn't particularly weak against the Euro. The shortages are because supermarkets won't pay for spot-prices, they'd rather just have little to no stock in the short-term.

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#147

Post by ch4s3 »

titzer wrote: post #116
simonh wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If wholesale food costs have gone up and they're simply passing that on then they may not be making any more money. Here's wholesale food prices in the US: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WPU578101 In fact you'd expect reduced sales from the higher prices to put pressure on profits. That is what seems to be happening in the UK: https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2023/01/31/food-companies-p... But not in the US, wher…

It's both increased wholesale food costs and price gouging. Profits have never been higher all along the board. Everyone in the chain is "passing the cost on" and also taking a little extra cut.

Those are nominal profits, everyone is trying to take "an extra cut" to stay ahead of inflation. Grocery has razor thin margins to begin with and the usual direction of prices is downward. Inflation will absolutely put a grocer out of business if they can't stay ahead of rising prices.

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#148

Post by HDThoreaun »

ElevenLathe wrote: post #119
legitster wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, how does one source produce except through imports? A weak Pound will make it more expensive. Even for things that can be domestically produced, like greenhouse tomatoes, they will still be more expensive even if they are now competitive with imports. And for items like rice and couscous you're not really going to be able to domestically produce them anyway.

Why can't you make couscous in the UK? It's just wheat.

Too many people, not enough space.

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#149

Post by bluefirebrand »

dboreham wrote: post #76
boc wrote: post #35

Demand for food is inelastic, so it makes sense that companies are raising prices as high as possible since people still have to eat. Generally this leads to price competition from other food brands, but when single companies own dozens/hundreds of food brands it’s easy to act like a cartel and keep prices high.

Also many people don't pay attention to how much food costs, at the point of purchase. It's all things that have low numbers that add up. e.g. when asked, nobody knows the price of a pint of milk.

I guarantee you that people trying to raise a family on a budget pay very close attention to the cost of individual items.

People might stop caring quite as much about individual pricing once they have enough money not to have to care.

People who have to worry "can I afford all of this once I get to the till" are very aware of how much everything costs, and they are more common than people who don't have to worry.

Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years

#150

Post by detaro »

_Wintermute wrote: post #87

For reference, that's a fairly average value for Europe at the moment. Not sure why the UK is being singled out. https://i.redd.it/8hbhiqhowjpa1.png

... because it's a UK industry publication, writing about and for the UK?
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