Food prices

[springbok]

Just had a shocker, been to get a loaf of bread.  It has gone up 10p overnight!!

£1.19 now for a normal loaf!!.

Is it just me or is anyone else noticing that food prices are getting a bit ridiculous?

[springbok]

[Isleworth]

Could be to do with the fuel prices... if it's costing more for the delivery of the goods then the stores may be reflecting that in the sale price  ??? Just a thought

[springbok]

Shop owner said it was wheat prices!  But its all getting a bit out of hand :(

[twinkletoes]

10p rise on an item to cover the rise in fuel prices is a bit cheeky to say the least.  How much was the last fuel rise? The fuel only has to be paid for once so why should we have to pay 10p for each item to cover the rise?  A penny tops would have been fairer surely?  No need for haulage firms to fleece the public like this.
twinkletoes

[posie]

I've noticed the same thing spring.  My food bill has probably gone up by between £7.50 - £10 per week.  My petrol has gone up by £5 per week.  Yet the amount of money I get in hasn't.  Things are getting very tight in my house right now.  Be glad when these veggies grow, save a few pennies at least.

[tonybloke]

10p rise on an item to cover the rise in fuel prices is a bit cheeky to say the least.  How much was the last fuel rise? The fuel only has to be paid for once so why should we have to pay 10p for each item to cover the rise?  A penny tops would have been fairer surely?  No need for haulage firms to fleece the public like this.
twinkletoes

when a lorry only does about 10-12 miles per gallon, you can see that fuel prices affect transport!

[Old bird]

I think it is to do with the world price for wheat!  I don't think that it is something we can control!!

I don't eat bread so I wouldn't notice!! I don't eat meat except probably once or twice a month,  In fact I am aiming to be 90% self sufficient from this summer onwards!  We'll see if that works out!

Obviously I need to pay for petrol and the basic stuff but foodwise I am aiming to be mostly self sufficient.

Old Bird

[ceres]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/23/supermarkets.fooddrinks?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

Looks like the price of wheat according to this.

[bupster]

Yes, food prices have gone up globally. It really isn't anyone trying to rip us off; we should think ourselves lucky, in developing countries it's becoming seriously difficult for poorer working people to feed their families. Higher oil prices have fed into this as it's more expensive to transport commodities which are traded and distributed globally. It's not the price of petrol at your local Shell that's made the bread prices go up. It's tough for those on fixed incomes, but for developing countries it can mean starvation as even aid shipments become more expensive and the money to spend on them stays the same.

[Melbourne12]

On the other hand, even at peak commodity prices, the cost of the wheat in a loaf is only around 15p.  At today's prices, it's more like 11p.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7d44dc7a-1237-11dd-9b49-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

So, even if we take the maximum wheat price, and recognise that it doubled before coming down again with a bump, the price of a loaf should only have been affected by 7p or 8p.  Instead, bread prices nearly doubled in the UK as wheat prices doubled.  A year or so ago, a cheap loaf cost around 65p IIRC.  It's now £1.10 or thereabouts.

So what happened to the difference?  65p + wheat increase max 8p = 73p.  Delta = 37p.  Let's be generous and say that fuel prices have added another 4p.

Wages haven't gone up.  The cost of capital hasn't increased massively.  So that's another 33p profit for the millers, bakers, and retailers.

I call that profiteering, myself.

[bupster]

I sort of understand your argument, but I'm inclined to think that there are aspects of the price rises that we don't understand, because profiteering doesn't make sense. Supermarkets in particular attract us in by offering low prices on basics like bread and they wouldn't put the prices up unless they felt they had to. Haven't we all been moaning that standard food prices are too low, which is why people don't understand the value of food and eat battery chickens etc because they expect to pay next to nothing for their basics? Why would the same supermarkets suddenly start "profiteering"?

[posie]

I guess it comes down to who you believe on this one - but given the amount of interest being paid to the supermarkets by the Office of Fair Trading in regards price fixing, right now I'm not inclined to believe the supermarket.  And for once, my local corner shop is cheaper for the same loaf of bread than Tesco!

[Barnowl]

The OFT has already had to pay one lot of damages (to Morrisons) for false allegations and it's predicted they will be riding for another fall on this one if they actually name names instead of just referring to '100 companies'.

The OFT seem very publicity driven these days, making big announcements before actually doing any work - take their cue from the government and its 'initiatives' I suppose.

[dtw]

I suppose it will help the growing obesity problem.  ;D

[twinkletoes]

.....every cloud has a silver lining.....    I love an optimist.    :)
twinkletoes

[tonybloke]

the pricew of flour and milk have increased, so has the cost of energy to cook the bread. however, at the prices of shop-bought bread, why ain't you all baking your own? Breadmaking machines are a doddle to use, even this bloke can do it!!

[springbok]

the pricew of flour and milk have increased, so has the cost of energy to cook the bread. however, at the prices of shop-bought bread, why ain't you all baking your own? Breadmaking machines are a doddle to use, even this bloke can do it!!

Personally found its not cost effective for me.

Bread flour is expensive.
Yeast is expensive
and the electric to keep it running for 2 hours.

I used to use it all the time, but lately its become too expensive for me to do, unless anyone can tell me a cheaper alternative.

[Mr Smith]

The price of Wheat in the UK was going through the roof last year, I wonder if it could be down to something called 'Set aside' that was introduced from Brussels before farmers started to build golf courses on their fields ;) ;)

[betula]

Did you have a nice time in Stratford Mr Smith?

[tonybloke]

It's a world price issue, last year they had 50% crop failure in australia, total failure in parts of the U.S due to blizzards, and failure in Ukraine due to floods, (global warming is just media hype?)
rgds, tonybloke