BBC News website - UK inflation: Food prices rise at fastest rate for 45 years

dealyboy

Interesting article ...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65312127

EasyToAssemble01

Apparently, there's supposed to be a government enquiry into price gouging. I wonder if this is actually the case, or whether the government are trying to shift the blame onto supermarkets (for mismanaging the economy, and making inflation worse than it seems to be in many other countries).

arnoldy

Prices may be rising, but food is incredibly cheap. There have been few instances in human history when food is as cheap as now. An hour on minimum wage (£10) will buy you a free range chicken, stuffing, and a mountain of potatoes and veg. Truly a feast for a family of 4+ and less than 15 minutes working per portion. Cheap.

TimSynths

Ive binned off Lidl now- find Tesco cheaper, cleaner, more choice, shorter queues, longer opening hours, eggs for sale- the list is endless.

MattMattMattUK

It is what is, prices are going up ut food is still cheap by historical standards and margins across the whole sector are slim apart from at the premium end. There is no price gouging but there is a lack of understanding from the general public.

Rosa_Damascena

The drop in energy prices is taking its way to work through the system. What are the chances of the cost of staples such as milk - which we know shaft the farmers royally - ever coming down?

YoungBlueEyes

Hopefully they’ll plateau at a happy medium cos I don’t want the farmers to keep being royally shafted. 

What’s the odds they go back to being loss leaders though…

p00hsticks

Rosa_Damascena said:

The drop in energy prices is taking its way to work through the system. What are the chances of the cost of staples such as milk - which we know shaft the farmers royally - ever coming down?

As the article points out, falling inflation doesn't translate to prices coming down, merely to them increasing at a slower rate. (The headline is 'supermarket price increases will ease soon', not that supermarket prices will decrease). 

So in my view, even substantial drops in energy prices are unlikely to result in much of a price decrease, if any. 

Although I thought I saw something recently about a potential government proposal to out a price cap on staples such as bread and milk (I bet the farmers loved that one!)

Rosa_Damascena

p00hsticks said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

The drop in energy prices is taking its way to work through the system. What are the chances of the cost of staples such as milk - which we know shaft the farmers royally - ever coming down?

As the article points out, falling inflation doesn't translate to prices coming down, merely to them increasing at a slower rate. (The headline is 'supermarket price increases will ease soon', not that supermarket prices will decrease). 

So in my view, even substantial drops in energy prices are unlikely to result in much of a price decrease, if any. 

Although I thought I saw something recently about a potential government proposal to out a price cap on staples such as bread and milk (I bet the farmers loved that one!)

The price of oil has now dropped to 2013 levels: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/kj5u/mm23 . Independently of the BBC headline, economics indicates that prices will actually go down as opposed to the rate of inflation slowing. If it doesn't we know that these savings are being siphoned off elsewhere before the item gets to the consumer.

p00hsticks

Rosa_Damascena said:

p00hsticks said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

The drop in energy prices is taking its way to work through the system. What are the chances of the cost of staples such as milk - which we know shaft the farmers royally - ever coming down?

As the article points out, falling inflation doesn't translate to prices coming down, merely to them increasing at a slower rate. (The headline is 'supermarket price increases will ease soon', not that supermarket prices will decrease). 

So in my view, even substantial drops in energy prices are unlikely to result in much of a price decrease, if any. 

Although I thought I saw something recently about a potential government proposal to out a price cap on staples such as bread and milk (I bet the farmers loved that one!)

The price of oil has now dropped to 2013 levels: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/kj5u/mm23 . Independently of the BBC headline, economics indicates that prices will actually go down as opposed to the rate of inflation slowing. If it doesn't we know that these savings are being siphoned off elsewhere before the item gets to the consumer.

But a lot of the resulting increases are now baked into prices, particularly labour costs . 
Employers aren't now going to turn round to employees and say 'you know that pay increase we gave you last year because of inflation - well now we're going to take it back off you because the price of oil is decreasing.'   

Rosa_Damascena

p00hsticks said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

p00hsticks said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

The drop in energy prices is taking its way to work through the system. What are the chances of the cost of staples such as milk - which we know shaft the farmers royally - ever coming down?

As the article points out, falling inflation doesn't translate to prices coming down, merely to them increasing at a slower rate. (The headline is 'supermarket price increases will ease soon', not that supermarket prices will decrease). 

So in my view, even substantial drops in energy prices are unlikely to result in much of a price decrease, if any. 

Although I thought I saw something recently about a potential government proposal to out a price cap on staples such as bread and milk (I bet the farmers loved that one!)

The price of oil has now dropped to 2013 levels: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/kj5u/mm23 . Independently of the BBC headline, economics indicates that prices will actually go down as opposed to the rate of inflation slowing. If it doesn't we know that these savings are being siphoned off elsewhere before the item gets to the consumer.

But a lot of the resulting increases are now baked into prices, particularly labour costs . 
Employers aren't now going to turn round to employees and say 'you know that pay increase we gave you last year because of inflation - well now we're going to take it back off you because the price of oil is decreasing.'   

I didn't realise that the private sector wages had gone up 
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/april2023#:~:text=Average regular pay growth was,2005 when it was 5.4%.
 (am firmly public sector where we have had to fight) although I appreciate its doesn't match inflation.