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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

#451

Post by oliwarner »

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…

> a loaf of my favourite bread increased from £3 to £4

What on earth are you eating? From where? The average 800g loaf costs £1.36.

But to feed into your point about who suffers, if you had to give up your luxury loaf, you could still afford two average loaves in its place. People who could only afford a 80p loaf before are now going without.

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

#452

Post by tootie »

legitster wrote: post #114
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.

This is a pretty lazy narrative. Prices are rising even in non-branded goods and markets. Smaller retailers are not-undercutting the bigger retailers. Couscous and margarine and eggs being more expensive across the board at the supplier level. This does not speak to any sort of cartel behavior.

Not to veer off into the psychology of it, but there's just such an overwhelming desire by most people to place blame for any misfortune on some intentional human behavior.

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

#453

Post by nehal3m »

Aunche wrote: post #440
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…

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…

Godwin's law in effect in comment number two (at the time of writing). I see the sentiment you're trying to portray but maybe try and be a little more verbose so you don't have to name the 20th century atrocities. Something like:

Being deluded into thinking ["the rich" nor the "lower class" are monolithic entities] is a recipe for abuse by those in power.

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

#454

Post by Nifty3929 »

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…

The lower class does suffer the most, but unfortunately it is the policies intended to help them which actually cause most of the problem. By giving money to people without producing more stuff - or even making it harder to produce the same - you MUST have inflation, rationing, or empty shelves - and often all three.

The solution to allowing lower classes to have more stuff is to make it easier for everybody to produce more stuff.

Giving money CAN help with distribution of stuff, allowing poor people to purchase a larger share. But it requires lots of money given directly to the people that need it (vs allowing the gov't to spend it themselves). And also requires lots of high inflation. Imagine, for example, just giving everyone £10M to spend on whatever they want. This would not create any more stuff - but it would sure be a big equalizer for people buying that stuff!

But really - if we could all focus a bit more on production - allowing, encouraging, and celebrating it - then we'd all have a lot more stuff.

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

#455

Post by karaterobot »

symlinkk wrote: post #336
UncleOxidant wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw $6.99 for a pack of 12 flour tortillas yesterday. Could not believe it. At that price I'll try making my own.

I find comments like this weird, I never think about purchases that small. I honestly have no idea how much I pay for tortillas normally but $7 would not even be a blip on my mental radar

I also do not think about the prices of (most) individual items, because I don't want to devote that much of my memory to the constantly fluctuating prices of dozens of small-ticket purchases. BUT, I do track my average weekly grocery bill, which is much easier to do, and it's been going up alarmingly fast. Is that what you meant?

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

#456

Post by dukeyukey »

antibasilisk wrote: post #370
dukeyukey wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This is just so alien to me. I'm in a not-so-great area of North Islington, and never even _seen_ violent crime happening.

I can't walk down the street any more without saying hi to people, the chippy guy who goes on Sunday runs, the coffee shop owner who lets me know when they're trying a new roaster, the elderly women walking their dogs at lunchtime. It's almost like my old hometown.

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

#457

Post by AlecSchueler »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #431
AlecSchueler wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's not only the inflation, it's also things like food shortages on shelves, a shrinking economy, decreased labour force etc.

I'm figuring this from the reporting of the BBC, Guardian etc

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63596773

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jul/02/dashboard-o...

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

#458

Post by cmurf »

kzrdude wrote: post #390
lifty wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I think inflation can be a force that equalizes between high and low wealth groups, but that's only if it includes wage inflation. Inflating wages makes wages relatively more important than existing assets.

100%

And a large part of today's work force is simply not familiar with fighting for wage increases. They're used to getting meager increases that don't keep up with inflation. Workers have been getting screwed for decades, the slowly boiled frog. It's not worth the fight so they have in effect gotten pay decreases, in aggregate, over 30+ years.

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

#459

Post by Tade0 »

justsocrateasin wrote: post #429
willismichael wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just one banana. What could it cost, ten dollars?

you've never actually set foot in a supermarket, have you??

This was a reference to some politician (I don't recall which) not knowing the price of a single banana.

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

#460

Post by dangwhy »

luckylion wrote: post #447
dangwhy wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

whats this supposed ot mean

It's how rich Western Europeans say that the poor will revolt unless socialism. It references something some French princess allegedly said who, when told the peasants don't have bread to eat, replied that they should eat cake instead. Some claim it as a sign of the royal disconnect that lead to the French Revolution.

i was talking about high priced food inflation which GP claimed consumers have no control over.

Not sure how this would be relevant.

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