Price fixing on sugar at Tesco and Asda?

lemontart

I now only buy sugar in Home Bargains at 69p or poundland for £1 for much larger than standard bag - the same with tea bags 99p for 100 tetley there as opposed at at least double in the supermarkets

Mistymaid

a11waysindebt wrote: »

The UK is unable to get letters posted properly never mind supplying its own food. Peoples diets have changed over the years and we expect products to be in our shops when we want them.

It amazes me how something can be flown half way around the world and still be cheaper than a locally sourced item.

I don't think people's diets have changed over the years, just their expectations - unfortunately, 'I want' sometimes doesn't get, but this is not a situation current generations have had to face and I guess it's a case of you don't know what you're missing until it's gone.

Take sugar for instance - we actually don't need it to function, and certainly not the white stuff which has nothing in it apart from sweetness. Yet we, (and I include me in this) have a high demand for it.

You shouldn't really be surprised that stuff can be flown halfway around the world and provided cheaper than locally. A lot of the workers that we source such things as sugar from are paid a pittance and live in poverty.

a11waysindebt

I agree the items are cheaper from these countries but their cost of living is also lower.

Mistymaid

I think you'll find it's their standard of living that is lower and not something we have any experience of.

mambury

a11waysindebt wrote: »

I agree the items are cheaper from these countries but their cost of living is also lower.

If its just the cost of living that is lower can you explain to me why there is such a need for fiar trade agreements, co-ops etc around the world especially when it comes to sugar and coffee production????

a11waysindebt

The problem you will have with a fair trade agreement is that sooner or later they require more. When people catch on to having a fair price then they might want even more money or conditions. Imagine the sugar suppliers going on strike for an extra 5p.

Mistymaid

Allways, I'm not quite sure which side of this debate you're coming from, but the term 'catch on to having a fair price,' sort of makes me shudder.

To be honest, you can take more or less any foodstuff you like and working it backwards, realise that the western population aren't paying anything like what it costs to produce.

If the people producing the sugar and coffee had an equitable standard of living to us, then prices would rise.

If we paid out what it costs to produce grains of any kind, taking into consideration the rising costs of chemicals (oil) and the increasing amounts being put on depleted land to maintain the yields, without subsidies (there are also subsidies within the oil industry but I don't quite know how these work) then costs would rise.

Then you have meat production - well they eat the grains as above, so the end result still applies. (Hence the push by some organisations to affect hormone levels to increase production in the dairy industry)

You may not agree with my argument - fair enough - but at the end of the day to put a broad brush stroke over 'subsidies' as Andrew did, although I'm sure unintentional, is pretty much an uniformed statement.

mambury

Mistymaid wrote: »

Allways, I'm not quite sure which side of this debate you're coming from, but the term 'catch on to having a fair price,' sort of makes me shudder.

To be honest, you can take more or less any foodstuff you like and working it backwards, realise that the western population aren't paying anything like what it costs to produce.

If the people producing the sugar and coffee had an equitable standard of living to us, then prices would rise.

If we paid out what it costs to produce grains of any kind, taking into consideration the rising costs of chemicals (oil) and the increasing amounts being put on depleted land to maintain the yields, without subsidies (there are also subsidies within the oil industry but I don't quite know how these work) then costs would rise.

Then you have meat production - well they eat the grains as above, so the end result still applies. (Hence the push by some organisations to affect hormone levels to increase production in the dairy industry)

You may not agree with my argument - fair enough - but at the end of the day to put a broad brush stroke over 'subsidies' as Andrew did, although I'm sure unintentional, is pretty much an uniformed statement.

I gues I'm with you on this misty......

We can't all agree however if everyone had an understanding of where there food comes from, not just little plastic trays/bags from mr T/M/A etc etc, then a lot of things would improve for a lot of people.

Please, please , please Andrew, Allways, at the very least investigate and inform yourself on mass food production, food chains, food miles etc etc. Then at the very least you will have a valid arguement to back up your point of view.

Mambury

spakkker

Sugar is 69p at Netto's - tho' I was shocked there last year to see salad onions on offer at 44p/kilo -from New Zealand!!!
Tesco's "pile it high, sell it cheap" was dumped over 30yrs ago, shoppers thought of it as like today's deep discounters.
Making sugar from beet in UK was pretty insane but sometimes globalisation has it's own insanity.

Mistymaid

Yep, it does look as if we are in agreement Mambury.

Must admit though I am long since past trying to 'convince' anybody of my argument. Trying to look at it through their eyes, it's purely a case of which shop you go to to find the cheapest of a product.
But I also realise this is a very narrow viewpoint and not, unfortunately, very realistic.

The bottom line is that our over consumption, and of course the willingness of large corporations to take their share of the profits in it, has put tremendous pressure on production ifrom one angle or another.

I guess the nearest analogy I can make at the moment is like the banks. It's happening globally, there appears to be an excess and then ... whoops ... it's dun and gone!