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

grocerygazette.co.uk

431–440 of 1001 posts

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

#431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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Every country in Europe is feeling the effects of the war in Ukraine but the UK seems to be dealing with it the worst. There's clearly an extra layer going on there.

> the UK seems to be dealing with it the worst

How do you figure? From the numbers posted by others in these comments it seems UK inflation is pretty much mid-table compared with the rest of Europe: https://i.redd.it/8hbhiqhowjpa1.png

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

#432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

"Meanwhile" means there isn't any particular connection, but replying in disagreement is very common and on social media it's often assumed if ambiguous.

This seems to happen all the time. Someone is just trying to make conversation (like me, here) and people try really hard to see in what way they were attacked by the comment.

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

#433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Asset prices are highly inversely correlated to interest rates I present you the US housing market.

I don't quite understand. Are you commenting on the much discussed U.S. Housing Prices Fall for First Time in a Decade" stories? https://time.com/6217372/us-housing-prices-fall/

that 'fall' is a joke. 0.44% ?

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

#434
post #401
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…

"[snip]...endless blue-collar UK worker union strikes, riots, protests, etc" Ummm... nothing like the 70s/80s (I'm old). Seriously I think that the younger people in the UK are showing immense stoicism and forbearance.

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

#436
Everything is mass produced. The prices are inflated because lack of competition. In a monopoly the seller sets the prices. That said, food is cheap, and consumers don't care what something costs. And if you are poor you usually have to buy from the most expensive shop, people with free time can afford to buy where its cheapest.

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

#437
post #151

Yet another sector where investment is low and prices are high. Over winter tomatoes were in short supply, not because we couldn't grow them, but because the methods of heating greenhouses were too expensive. CO2 heaters use gas in largely uninsulated greenhouses. A bit of creativity (solar thermal with storage supplying radiators) or just modernity (air source heat pumps) would have solved this problem. Alas, there…

Greenhouses are a tiny sliver of overall food production. The rest of agriculture is heavily biased toward the energy density of fossil fuel, particularly nat gas and diesel. The innovation required to move away from the actual energy problem in agriculture is much greater than a bit of creativity

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

#438
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

When food starts to run out, governments serve their own people first. This is also true for the EU. If there's not enough to go around, the UK simply won't get to buy any.

That's true, except when food starts to run out, the French government will serve the French people, the Spanish government will serve the Spanish people, and so on. You're nuts if you think the Spanish are going to ship food they desperately need to Hungary because they're both in the EU.

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

#439

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.

Not sure why you are being downvoted. Stock prices are on the slide and property prices and rental yields are extremely precarious. I also agree that low rates were good as you could invest in property with leverage and in businesses which could borrow and raise money to cheaply to grow. Nobody is having a good time right now.

> property prices and rental yields are extremely precarious

I noticed you didn't say "declining" because that wouldn't be true.

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

#440
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 food producer may benefit from inflation, whereas a government loses out, despite both representing "the rich". An unattached young trades-person can ride the wave of inflation because they can easily switch to jobs with higher wages, whereas a another with a family cannot.

Neither "the rich" nor the "lower class" is a monolithic entity. The idea that they are monolithic allows for elites to disguise their selfish consolidation of power as evidence of being on the side of the people. For some obvious examples, Hitler successfully blamed the Jews for German hyperinflation, and Stalin successfully purged political enemies he deemed as "capitalist".

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