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

grocerygazette.co.uk

221–230 of 1001 posts

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

#221
post #167

As a person living in the UK, I have definitely noticed a considerable rise in unit prices. One of many examples is that a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4 recently, which was a shocker. Toilet roll prices, as ever what the news loves to talk about, has exploded, increasing by around 70% since 2020 by my anecdotal observation. A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or…

Assets are deflating at the moment though. S&P500 is down, property prices are down, etc. Asset prices are highly inversely correlated to interest rates, so for a 'rich' person you are actually much better off without inflation, as interest rates are lower and asset prices rise faster.

Inflation, asset deflation and a financially strained middle/low class causing them to be upside down on debt = firesale on what assets they had for the top class to acquire. I believe this cycles used to be called pump and suck when directed at third world economies, get them addicted to debt then acquire their desirable assets. Crazy to see it being used now on the UK and USA middle class. We never thought the banking leopard would eat our face.

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

#222
post #167

As a person living in the UK, I have definitely noticed a considerable rise in unit prices. One of many examples is that a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4 recently, which was a shocker. Toilet roll prices, as ever what the news loves to talk about, has exploded, increasing by around 70% since 2020 by my anecdotal observation. A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or…

You are talking like inflation is some conspiracy wielded by “the rich” (who are they? Are they all friends with each other and plan all their schemes together?) against the “others”. Fact is the inflation we are seeing here is caused by the after effects of Covid, the Energy price surges caused by the Ukraine war and in the special case of UK - Brexit, which has lead to huge import shortages due to increased bureauc…

i would add climate change to the mix as impacting agriculture

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

#223

[flagged]

I think the UK was doomed inside or outside Europe. Not quite sure why, but their relative productivity per worker has been dropping since 2007 compared to all other developed nations. [1] With low productivity, it doesn't matter if you have sweet trade deals - you're still going to decline eventually. [1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47826195.amp

This isn't the case. The stuff you read about this is just ludicrously inaccurate.

One, UK is growing at about the same rate as other developed economies. This is quite remarkable because, if you look at Europe, 100% of these countries have significantly higher unemployment.

Two, productivity growth has slowed everywhere after 2007. The UK is comparable to Western Europe, slower than Germany, faster than Italy, it depends heavily on what start and end date you pick. This isn't particularly surprising given that we essentially outlawed the most productive sector of our economy after 2007.

Three, the UK had no financial boom in the 2010s, the US did, and the EU did...let's just wait until the debt has to be repaid to see the full score on whether that has worked out economically.

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

#225
post #167

As a person living in the UK, I have definitely noticed a considerable rise in unit prices. One of many examples is that a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4 recently, which was a shocker. Toilet roll prices, as ever what the news loves to talk about, has exploded, increasing by around 70% since 2020 by my anecdotal observation. A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or…

You are talking like inflation is some conspiracy wielded by “the rich” (who are they? Are they all friends with each other and plan all their schemes together?) against the “others”. Fact is the inflation we are seeing here is caused by the after effects of Covid, the Energy price surges caused by the Ukraine war and in the special case of UK - Brexit, which has lead to huge import shortages due to increased bureauc…

Did they? I saw them say "wittingly or not".

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

#226
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how this cartel like behaviour works in the UK where every major supermarket has its own range of competing products - and then there is the likes of Aldi that is 90% stocked with brand lookalike knock offs? There are currently competing narratives in the UK about food prices - greedy supermarkets v poor farmers and the same people complaining then say they shop at Aldi because it's cheaper. Food is stil…

> Food is still cheap - it represents a small percentage of people's income. If you look at it as an average for the population, sure. But that masks the real issue, which is that it hits poor people the hardest because spending on food doesn't scale proportionally with income.

True, it could have a more significant impact.

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

#227
post #167

As a person living in the UK, I have definitely noticed a considerable rise in unit prices. One of many examples is that a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4 recently, which was a shocker. Toilet roll prices, as ever what the news loves to talk about, has exploded, increasing by around 70% since 2020 by my anecdotal observation. A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or…

> A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or not, a weapon wielded by the rich against the middle and lower classes.

I think you have it backward. I think the inflation is the byproduct of their ability to own and hoard assets like land and labor, and reap the most value from those things, while everyone else is unable to get a foothold.

Inflation is happening because everyone is making more money, and everyone got a bunch of during covid, and now a lot of people are having large swaths of debt cut from their lives (college loan forgiveness program), not because rich people own stuff. But poorer people also can’t get ahead because rich people own everything.

This is a capitalism problem more specifically than it is a rich v. poor problem. Make it illegal to own more than one property and you will instantly give the lower and middle classes a chance.

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

#228
post #167

As a person living in the UK, I have definitely noticed a considerable rise in unit prices. One of many examples is that a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4 recently, which was a shocker. Toilet roll prices, as ever what the news loves to talk about, has exploded, increasing by around 70% since 2020 by my anecdotal observation. A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or…

Tell that to the economists, who predominantly say that inflation helps the poor, supposedly because they have loans.

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

#229
post #213
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The consumer decides what they are prepared to pay for a product, unless the demand is inelastic. And for food overall, the demand is inelastic. Consumers cannot just say "food is too expensive for me, so I think I'm going to to go without it this month". They can choose between the individual products they buy, so it wouldn't be a problem if just some food items got expensive. But the price of food overall is inflat…

> They can choose between the individual products they buy, so it wouldn't be a problem if just some food items got expensive. But the price of food overall is inflating. That is a false binary. You can still buy flour (or naan or pita), cheese and tomato sauce instead of pre-made pizzas, sacrificing your time against rising food costs. You can buy lentils instead of steak, sacrificing your preferences against rising…

If flour, cheese, and tomato sauce also go up 25% what the shit is gained from your entire post? The people at the bottom of this still have issues buying food.

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

#230

What about grocery store profit margins? > Bread was up 20.8%, with pasta products and couscous up 25.3% This is unjustified. Under no circumstances could this happen unless a) price gauging, or b) supply chain is drying up. Edit for the ignorant: > The UK is largely self-sufficient in production of grains, producing over 100% of domestic consumption of oats and barley and over 90% of wheat. Average yields over recen…

>> Bread was up 20.8%, with pasta products and couscous up 25.3% > This is unjustified. Under no circumstances could this happen unless a) price gauging, or b) supply chain is drying up. Are you aware that both Russia and Ukraine are (normally) major exporters of grain?

That have considerable export logistics through Romania. Minus the resources that Russia stole over the territories it had control over during this stupid Putin war.
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