Supermarket excessive price increases not in line with inflation of 3or4%

I've noticed price rises in my weekly shopping not just by pennies buy 50p at a time I always buy a bag of ready cooked chicken for stirfry's etc and this week it went up from £3 to £3.50p staple foods such as free range eggs gone up 30p for my usual buy and many others across the board.I am lucky to be able to afford these price rises but worry about people on basic pensions and families on minimum wage and how they will manage when energy prices rise again in April.

I was just about to post what I realise now Calendargirl has already said.

Producer prices, what manufacturers pay for their goods, has gone up by nearly 10% in the last year and 20% since the start of the pandemic. So perhaps we should be glad that inflation is only 5% www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/producerpriceinflation/december2021includingservicesoctobertodecember2021

I would echo what a couple of others have said about Jack Monroe's piece on Twitter. It is definitely worth a read. Jack is very good at demonstrating in real terms what the rises actually mean to people. It's scary just how much some prices has shot up - I think in one example Jack quoted, there had been a rise of more than 300% on one item alone! And the worst increases were at the lower end of the price bracket - the 'basic' ranges which many people on a tight budget rely on. No wonder the use of foodbanks is also increasing all the time.
I do the shopping for my housebound in-laws every week and just this morning I noticed a few of the things I buy regularly for them had gone up by quite a bit. Even what seems like a small increase on one item can all add up when you get to the till.

The problem is that the 'basic' ranges have been priced right down with narrow margins, so that when price rises come through they have no capacity to absorb any of the costs, so every rise in cost has to be immediately reflected in the cost.

Higher price ranges have more profit written into the price so that some extra costs can be absorbed, in the short run, although they too will creep up slowly but less noticeably.

Aldi and Lidl are still cheap. We are lucky enough to have both within walking distance.

Kate1949

Aldi and Lidl are still cheap. We are lucky enough to have both within walking distance.

I noticed the price of packets of pasta in Aldi today were half of what I paid in my Sainsbury's local on Wednesday. ( I got a couple of packs for the store cupboard)

Jack Monroe is very good at housekeeping and her recipes for those on a budget are excellent, she is an expert in not wasting anything.

@M0nica

Producer prices, what manufacturers pay for their goods, has gone up by nearly 10% in the last year and 20% since the start of the pandemic. So perhaps we should be glad that inflation is only 5%

I wouldn't be quite so worried if it was just 5% in our pockets but it's 5% in each and every stage of the process which ends up costing us more like 20-25% more.

The list of 700 items in the 'basket' that's used to calculate inflation includes such 'basics' as champagne, a leg of lamb and a mobile phone. How many of us but these things every week? Is this a reasonable list of items to use for such an important calculation? Surely, the list should be purely things like the true basics, bread, milk, eggs, toiletries, cleaning products, pet food, petrol, gas & electric etc.

The two items of pet food I started this thread with equated to an almost 37% price increase, so how exactly does that fit with 5% inflation?

The Cost of Living basket is not representative of what any single person buys, but is representative of what everybody buys in sufficient volume to be included in the basket. Each year new items are added and others removed. It includes also, furniture, white goods and doft furnishings, because over a year a lot of people buy these items.

Everybody's idea of what is a necessity will differ from others. To me pet food is irrelevant and is a luxury because we do not have pets, and, apart from once having hamsters, never have had them, others would exclude petrol and motoring costs because they do not run cars.

Items on the list are weighted by the proportion of total consumer spending they represent, so the basics you mention will be more heavily weighted than a leg of lamb.

Casdon

Inferior quality pet food is not good for animals though Jaxjacky, that’s one thing most pet owners will be very loath to compromise on. At the moment, it seems to be specific items which are increasing in price, so I’ve been buying alternatives for us - but not trading down the dog food!

Did some investigating and found that Aldi's Langhams premium dog meat tray is manufactured by the same company that sell Naturo and it's 25% cheaper. Not saying that it is exactly the same composition but still....

@lilypollen

Did some investigating and found that Aldi's Langhams premium dog meat tray is manufactured by the same company that sell Naturo and it's 25% cheaper. Not saying that it is exactly the same composition but still....

This applies to a great many products across all sectors.

I saw something the other day that said when you drill down into the actually recipe for Weetabix and Asda's version, there is 0.004g extra salt in the Asda one, otherwise the recipe is exactly the same.

Many big name tablets we buy over the counter have generics with exactly the same composition, you can tell because they both have a matching number on the back of the box.

The thing is, it's a case of trial and error to find a product that is similar enough to do a switch or contacting manufacturers to see whether they'll let you have sight of the exact composition of their products, which is usually unlikely because they don't want others 'exactly' copying their products.

I've been known to talk about chocolate and cakes on other threads where products are made for various supermarkets and luxury brands in the same factory, using the same ingredients.

So yes, in some cases, it's possible to find cheaper substitutes for things we normally buy but the issue is when the supermarkets' increase the prices on those 'cheaper' brands making it difficult to afford even those.

Calendargirl

I suppose we have got used to low inflation. Can remember when inflation was really high, ( the 70’s or 80’s?) and groceries seemed to increase in price on a weekly basis.

What indications have you got that inflation will be 'low'?
This is not what experts are saying currently.

Kali Compared with the 1970s, 5% is low. However the target set for the Bank of England is 2%. Inflation is usually brought under control by increasing interest rates. Anyone for 10% interst rates on mortgages. That would bring house prices down!

It's greed on the part of the supermarket often. Years ago when inflation was soaring, I had a Saturday job with a very well known and old established high street chemist. I was instructed to put new products on the shelves that were priced higher than the existing stock. I was told to change all the labels to the higher price, and when I queried it and said that the existing goods had been bought at the lower price, I found myself most unpopular with the manager.

Harmonypuss, please look at buying your Royal Canin dog food online. It’s a third cheaper than in shops and free delivery within a day or two.
Compared with much of the rest of the world our food prices have historically been much lower. The ‘essential’ basic ranges have less wriggle room to keep prices low.
Tin hat time I’m afraid.

I agree that Jack Monroe's comments are both pertinent and interesting. Some basic food stuffs have gone up quite dramatically percentage wise, others have kept the same prices but lowered the pack size.

Food price increases seem to be around 20% now. There were several items I bought the week before Christmas which jumped up the first week of January. An example is a tin of baked beans going up from 70p to £1 - that's a big rise. This week my favoured bread has gone up 20p. We can live without luxury food items such as leg of lamb or steak but these things are basics.

The problem with going to Aldi and Lidl for more than a few items is that they don't do delivery so impossible for us non drivers.

M0nica excellent, clear posts Friday 14.24 and 22.54. Thank you.

Harmonypuss it was the code numbers I saw on the dog food that led me to the manufacturer. I think it is for an own brand product there has to be a trail to the manufacturer that holds the licence to produce that product. This doesn't have to be evident to the consumer though.

Thanks lilypillen. I use the allaboutdogfood site, and I checked out the Langhams, which was rated 61%, that’s better than many more expensive brands. My spoilt boy has Forthglade, but I shop around, and buy stocks when it’s on offer

as prices have increased i have started to go over to the supermarket at night to get some yellow sticker items, i can usually get some veg reduced that i sort and freeze, been making more soup and having that and a sandwich for evening meals. being on my own i can get by on ready meals from farm foods and using value sausages can make slow cooker meals. the oven never gets used and my heating is just a single heater in my living room, i live on benefits due to illness and it is unlikely i will ever go back to working so i have just tried to cut back and adapt to what i can afford, never have been bothered about brand names so that makes things easier, i don't drink but i do miss my pepsi...lol.

Calpol was £2.80 and is now £3.50 in my local Tesco. I feel like I should have taken out shares.

Food prices have been low for a long time - and people have generally adjusted accordingly.

Loss leaders (goods sold at a loss, such as milk, bread, eggs and alcohol) are used by supermarkets, just to get shoppers in through the door.

They're usually at the back of aisles for good reason. They know once people are there, they'll usually relax and buy a lot more - all the junk, profitable stuff.

It's so much easier to buy online and avoid their marketing ploys.

Companies are, most of them, not raising prices to make a bigger profit but because their material, transport and fuel costs have risen.

@vickymeldrew

I used to be a cat breeder and am still registered as such with Royal Canin, so I actually get the best possible price on my dog food. It comes in 18kg bags and there's very little difference in the price of my 18kg and the 12kg bags that are available from any other seller.
Thank you for suggesting it though.

@GillT57

I agree that Jack Monroe's comments are both pertinent and interesting. Some basic food stuffs have gone up quite dramatically percentage wise, others have kept the same prices but lowered the pack size.

And many have done both, as was demonstrated by Jack Monroe with a bag of rice that in January 2021 was 45p for 1kg but is now 500g for £1.00 - half the quantity for more than double the price.

@lilypollen

Yes, I am aware of these codes on per food too, but unlike on medicines they don't mean that they are exact in composition.

We always buy own brand childrens calpol, ibuprofen and antihistamine, works out so much cheaper and products are identical.