A lot of the inflation on food is increasingly feeling like businesses cashing in. For instance my old go to brand of breed increased by over 50% months ago.
Did their costs go up too?
UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
71–80 of 1001 posts
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#72A lot of the inflation on food is increasingly feeling like businesses cashing in. For instance my old go to brand of breed increased by over 50% months ago.
For some reason they didn't want to cash in before?
People thinking that suddenly, big corps got more greedy and this is where inflation comes is such a bleak insight into the average voter's mind.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#73Demand 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.
Normally you see substitutions, but prices are up across the board.
In fact, local eggs are now cheaper than factory farm eggs around here, and chicken is getting to be equivalent in price to beef.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#74As someone who doesn't live in the UK, the impression I get from headlines is that the UK is becoming poorer by the day, the NHS has collapsed, crime is exploding, poverty is rising, most people can't afford anything anymore, the Royal Mail is hanging by a thread, and the economy is in free fall. What's the reality? In London and outside?
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.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#75Demand 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.
If there is anything that drives antitrust action, I imagine it would be food supply.
Historically, food supply doesn't drive anti-trust. It drives revolutions in the street.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#76Demand 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.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#77As someone who doesn't live in the UK, the impression I get from headlines is that the UK is becoming poorer by the day, the NHS has collapsed, crime is exploding, poverty is rising, most people can't afford anything anymore, the Royal Mail is hanging by a thread, and the economy is in free fall. What's the reality? In London and outside?
I have a lot of friends in the UK, and my perception 15 years ago was that it was a country in decline. There was a general feeling of malaise, with not many hopeful for the future.
Has only gotten worse, it seems.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#78Demand 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.
> Demand for food is inelastic
I doubt it. I've read that Americans throw away 40% of their food. Obesity rates suggest people eat far more than they need to. And there are major choices in what to eat - cheap vs expensive calories.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#79Demand 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.
Demand for a certain number of calories per day is somewhat inelastic. How you get those calories is very elastic. Steak versus rice and beans.
Re: UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years
#80Demand 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.
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 still cheap - it represents a small percentage of people's income. However, in the UK, we are beginning to see that food produced without the benefit of slave labour is somewhat less cheaper than it used to be.