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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

#361

Post by bko »

robjan wrote: post #192
martinald wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

Higher prices don't mean more profit. People adjust their behavior and retailers eat some of the costs of higher prices. They'll sell a lot less. Their revenue might not even go up necessarily

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

#362

Post by dfxm12 »

samhuk wrote: 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…

pass down wholesale price increases, etc.

I think it is very important to note that when it comes to grocery price increases, even if suppliers are raising their prices (and this isn't always the case), groceries stores aren't just passing down wholesale price increases, they're raising prices even further.

For grocery stores, this isn't an issue with (unqualified) "inflation", it's an issue of price gouging.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11668863/Supermarke...

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

#363

Post by jacquesm »

dangwhy wrote: post #344
clnq wrote: 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…

But can't they switch to lower priced foods. I don't understand why its inelastic.Thats something I've done personally. Why does higher priced food keep inflating too if consumer has no control.

> But can't they switch to lower priced foods.

They could always eat cake.

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

#364

Post by madaxe_again »

nradov wrote: post #321
samhuk wrote: 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…

Despite being a net food importer, the UK continues to allow relatively high levels of immigration. While there are multiple causes for food price inflation, having more people living there certainly causes some upward pressure on prices. https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/lo...

That’s not so - were it the case, food would be more expensive in more populous countries, and this is demonstrably not the case. If anything, a larger consumer base allows greater economies of scale.

This is a supply side issue, a labour issue, a border issue, and a stagnant economy issue. Productivity in the U.K. flatlined years ago, with the 2008 recession, and what is being experienced there remains the after effects of the bungled policy decisions at the time.

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

#365

Post by mjburgess »

Veen wrote: post #193
clnq wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In an ironic way, the consumers decided to leave the EU and expose the UK to higher inflation. Though much of the world has been seeing severe inflation at this time, it would have probably been better if the UK had access to a broader food market.

The UK still has access to those markets. The problem is not that we can't import goods, but that there are fewer goods to import and they are being sold at higher prices. For example, in January, food inflation in France was 14.8% and in the UK it was slightly lower at 13.3% and the OECD rate was 15.2%. It's not a Brexit problem; it's a production problem. - https://tradingeconomics.com/france/food-inflation - https…

It's not a problem caused by brexit; it's just a problem made less severe by zero-trade barriers with the countries you're importing food from.

The UK is one of the most import-dependent nations in europe, and the world; it's easy to give good reasons to suppose had the UK been in the EU it would have seen below-average inflation.

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

#366

Post by jll29 »

hattmall wrote: post #245
dboreham wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A pint? I mean no, but that's because milk is sold by the gallon. If you think people aren't acutely aware of the price of a gallon of milk then you live in a bubble of wealthy people. If milk rises above $3 a gallon or falls below $1.50 half of my Facebook feed has something to say about it. Same goes for many other standard products.

Outside of chemistry, liquids are typically measured in litres (AmE: liters), a metric unit of capacity equal to the volume of one kilogram of water at 4°C (39°F) and at standard atmospheric pressure of 760 millimeters of mercury.

"Gallons" are not a universal metric:

For the US, 1 Liter of milk = 0.2641720524 (US) Gallons.

For the UK, 1 Liter of milk = 0.2199692483 (UK) Gallons.

Because this has been and still is confusing, the standard unit of liter was introduced as a universal alternative (no flamebait intended).

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

#367

Post by rcarr »

peresthe wrote: post #270

It is truly strange to see so many comments on Hacker News -- a message board owned by YCombinator, a startup accelerator whose actual mission is to launch wildly profitable companies -- talking conspiratorially about the wealthy being "parasites", lambasting "capitalism", pointing to increased profits as evidence of unscrupulous behavior.

Because the startups are (hopefully) adding value whereas the people we're talking about are robbing the UK blind whilst offering little of value in return. One is competence, the other is extortion.

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

#368

Post by shafoshaf »

sumitkumar wrote: post #208

Would it not make sense to have a crypto solution to the inflation problem? Can't governments initiate a crypto currency which can be only used for a basket of goods and the providers of these goods can then exchange this currency for input goods or fiat money after verifying. This crypto coin can be distributed to everyone every month/week and with a expiry date. What I understand is that inflation in high price goo…

There is no such thing as decoupling when there is a cash equivalent. For example, in the US a lot of welfare funds are handed out in the form of food stamps. This has created a secondary market in food stamps where people sell them to get cash. Also, the mere fact of having the food stamps frees up funds for other things where the consumer can spend more on "non-essential" goods carrying the inflation with it.

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

#369

Post by danso »

xwdv wrote: post #347

Given that there’s an obesity epidemic in the United States, we would benefit long term from such high food inflation IMO. It will force people to reach for cheaper, healthier options, or simply go without food and use up their fat stores. The poorest are often the most obese here.

Huh? Isn't cheaper food often the unhealthiest food? In Chicago, using the McDonalds app [0] I can get a large latte and 2 bacon and egg biscuits for just $5. That's a ready-to-eat meal with a ton of calories. You could match that value in healthy foods by buying in bulk, but then you'd have to include costs of freezer space and time for prep.

[0] $4 for a bacon & egg biscuit, $1 more for buy-1-get-1-free, and the McCafe drink of any size comes free for an order of $3+

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

#370

Post by antibasilisk »

dukeyukey wrote: post #205
antibasilisk wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

London has experienced the worst drop in quality of life by far, other places are also being hit but they're kind of used to it by now and they can't really fall much further anymore.

I've lived in London for the past 6 years and I wouldn't say that at all. Food and energy has gone up (comparably to the rest of Europe), but there's a feeling that Sunak is more competent than the previous lot. Plus we're getting loads of tech investment.

I lived in London pretty much since I was born (2000), I moved away last year because of how bad it's gotten, and it has very little to do with food and energy. There is basically no sense of social cohesion left anymore, you cannot expect safety, you cannot leave a car parked outside and expect it not to be broken into. I've had a guy almost pull a knife on me because I accidentally came up behind him and he thought I was from an opposing gang. This sort of thing was a not-so-uncommon experience for my peers at school.
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