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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

#861

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two of the most well-known toothpaste brands in the UK are still selling their most 'basic' toothpastes for 100ml for £1, which I don't think is much of a rise on what it's been for the last few years (I think I used to get 125ml for that price). People on modest salaries either don't spot the cheaper, just-as-good toothpaste that's not as prominent, they think that it's not as good as the ones with lists of all the…

> most 'basic' toothpastes for 100ml for £1, which I don't think is much of a rise on what it's been for the last few years (I think I used to get 125ml for that price). Going from 125mL to 100mL for the same price => 20% price inflation.

The proportion of my local supermarket given over to toothpaste is mind blowing. It's like the beginnings of some sort of Brontitallian Shoe Event Horizon.

For what is essentially just a mild abrasive plus fluoride, the baffling array of variations on a theme on display, mostly from the same few fmcg conglomerates anyway, is just ridiculous.

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

#862

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two of the most well-known toothpaste brands in the UK are still selling their most 'basic' toothpastes for 100ml for £1, which I don't think is much of a rise on what it's been for the last few years (I think I used to get 125ml for that price). People on modest salaries either don't spot the cheaper, just-as-good toothpaste that's not as prominent, they think that it's not as good as the ones with lists of all the…

> most 'basic' toothpastes for 100ml for £1, which I don't think is much of a rise on what it's been for the last few years (I think I used to get 125ml for that price). Going from 125mL to 100mL for the same price => 20% price inflation.

Yes, which would seem around in line with inflation. I was replying to a comment talking about seeing toothpaste for £5, which gives the impression that perhaps the price of toothpaste has rocketed past that of inflation, which doesn’t appear to be the case.

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

#863

I cannot believe supermarkets these days, it is insane the increases in prices, I’ve seen £5 for a tube of normal toothpaste and £6 for a tiny Pizza that is sometimes available for £3. How people on modest salaries survive I don’t know. Quite often I’m starting to notice dark patterns in pricing where things you normally didn’t worry about will have randomly increased by £2-3 and you get the checkout and you’ve spent…

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.

on a tangent, either buy fresh tortillas (the package should be very warm, almost hot) or make your own. Get some good tortillas and you'll want the others outlawed as a crime against humanity. I'm fairly anti-government but i would be ok if a law was passed in the fine state of Texas requiring all restaurants to make their own tortillas fresh when ordered.

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

#864

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two of the most well-known toothpaste brands in the UK are still selling their most 'basic' toothpastes for 100ml for £1, which I don't think is much of a rise on what it's been for the last few years (I think I used to get 125ml for that price). People on modest salaries either don't spot the cheaper, just-as-good toothpaste that's not as prominent, they think that it's not as good as the ones with lists of all the…

There's other dimensions than the quality of the toothpaste. The dispenser provides a significantly better usability experience if you're willing to spend an extra $1. The cheapest toothpastes are screw caps that can fall on the floor and take a few moments take off and put on. The hinged pop open/closed interface is simpler.

The point was about the rise in prices across the spectrum of available products vs those that would be expected given inflation figures. But thanks for the tube tip!

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

#865

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not average for Europe. Aside from Germany, rest of Europe is at around ~10%. The UK is being singled out because its not able to import the groceries it used to do before Brexit now - there has been a low yield crop season in most parts of Europe and the domestic demand for groceries has literally exhausted the supply that can be exported. Since the UK is out of the Eu, its not possible to access the Eu domestic…

None of that is true. The EU average is 19.5%, it's the first figure in the link I posted.

Eu average is ~9%.

https://ycharts.com/indicators/europe_inflation_rate

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

#866

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 produ…

>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. Completely inaccurate. Giving people money that came from taxes does not increase the money supply. Giving people money that came from selling bonds does not increase the money supply. Only printing money increases the money supply.

Actually money from selling bonds does increase the money supply.

The government hands out that money, and people use it to buy more bonds, then the government hands out more money, and repeat. There is now more money in the world.

Yes, if you unwind everything it will go back down, but that's never actually done.

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

#867

Living in the UK, yes food prices are rising. But I work for an NGO whose main focus is in East Africa and I've been tracking food inflation there and seeing 200-400% jumps over the past three years. Perfect storm of the lack of available fertilizer, wheat shortage and poor growing seasons over the past five years is hitting everyone. I don't see it geetting better until the world adjusts; swapping to alternative cro…

Funny that you mention nitrogen fertilizer, here in Belgium there is a minor agricultural crisis going on due to the ag sector needing to reduce nitrogen emissions.

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

#868

Living in the UK, yes food prices are rising. But I work for an NGO whose main focus is in East Africa and I've been tracking food inflation there and seeing 200-400% jumps over the past three years. Perfect storm of the lack of available fertilizer, wheat shortage and poor growing seasons over the past five years is hitting everyone. I don't see it geetting better until the world adjusts; swapping to alternative cro…

I agree, the problem is fairly global. So UK specific explanations are unlikely to have much validity. Some punters myopically only considering UK features (such as brexit) is misleading. https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/food-inflation (Click on World Tab, and click on the inflation heading to sort - I needed to tap and slide to get it to sort descending).

Inflation (in general, not food inflation specifically) in the UK is worse than in, say, Germany and France. The reasons for that are specific to the UK, and they do include Brexit. I think it's not myopic to point that out. We shouldn't give a free pass to people who have wreaked economic havoc to the UK just because there are some geopolitical factors that happen to wreak even worse havoc at the same time.

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

#869
post #394
post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Norway and Sweden are hardly similar in this respect. Norway is a net food exporter . Sweden is a net food importer . That alone can account for much of the discrepancy.

I don't quite understand what you mean- Could you ground you statement with some source?

It's pretty simple. Subtract the value of food imports from the value of food exports. If the value is positive then the country is a net exporter, and if it's negative then they're a net importer. Every major country imports some foodstuffs and exports others, but countries with a trade surplus are generally better positioned to handle food price inflation.

https://www.nibio.no/en/news/ten-facts-about-the-norwegian-f...

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

#870

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 produ…

We already produce enough. It’s the distribution of what has been produced the core issue.

Is it? Are the rich people eating up all the bread? Buying up all the shoes?

It you take all the cars from the top 1% and give them to the other 99%, how many additional cars do you suppose the average family will get? How about for houses? How about for haircuts?

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