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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

#241

Post by dukeyukey »

heisenbit wrote: post #189

Glancing at the exchange rates the pound fell year over year 5% from a local max vs Euro so this is on top of the certainly high inflation on Europe. Also it is said that UK supermarkets lock in prices long term with domestic producers. But goods are somewhat mobile so the shelfs in the UK empty. And while it is just an anecdotal bit - our local Aldi here in Germany was selling British scones and shortbread. While th…

Germany has higher food inflation than the UK right now so it's definitely not a UK thing.

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

#242

Post by ivalm »

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]

Even nominal profits are down, so not true.

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

#243

Post by christophilus »

dt3ft wrote: post #216
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…

> It's the dark, sinister side of inflation You mean dark, sinister side of capitalism, right?

No. Of fractional reserve banking. Capitalism is not the same thing as a monetary regime.

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

#244

Post by skybrian »

illiarian wrote: post #144
jorts wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

"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.

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

#245

Post by hattmall »

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.

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.

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

#246

Post by jupp0r »

dt3ft wrote: post #216
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…

> It's the dark, sinister side of inflation You mean dark, sinister side of capitalism, right?

Can you name non-capitalism societies that have had more success dealing with inflation?

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

#247

Post by WOTERMEON »

nyerp wrote: post #213
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…

> 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…

Plain flour is more expensive

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

#248

Post by baremetal »

tacker2000 wrote: post #204
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…

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…

> Are they all friends with each other and plan all their schemes together?

They don't all have to actively conspire or even know one another for them to have a shared business interest.

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

#249

Post by arrow7000 »

jupp0r wrote: post #219
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…

Tragically (and perhaps comically) it's the blue collar class that is the cause of all of this by voting for Brexit.

Although greatly spurred on by many in the upper classes

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

#250

Post by locallost »

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. The last part, thank you. I think it's a major problem in the economy today. For a market economy to work there needs to be competition, but there's too little of it. If the prices are too high, the market response should be to produce more. But it's not happening - even if you produce something you need to get it in stores and every country is dominated by a few huge chains. They don't want to do business with small time producers. So in multiple parts of the chain you have entities that can basically do whatever they want.
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