Food is down 20-40% over last year and the only thing still propping it up as much as it is surrounds concern over the US midwest drought. Indeed, consumer buying lags production, but it is only a matter of time.
In the UK, it feels like food is up 25-50% over a mere couple of years.
Items that were £2 not so long ago are now rounded up to £3 in some cases.
It doesn't help that supermarkets are constantly playing games with pricing, trying to get people into the store with seemingly good deals that never last long, then experimenting with just how far they can push the greedflation on other items.
We need a measure of inflation that's based on the cost of essentials, primarily housing, energy, transport, and food - rather than stacking the 'basket of goods' with infrequent purchases that we expect to fall in price.
Food prices are definitely still up 50%+ over 2019, but down from last year. Concerns over the conflict in Ukraine sent things to the moon for a little while. I expect there is still some fertilizer concern out there, but it is mostly the weather driving things right now.
We are talking about food, not groceries. As before, there is a lag between them. The consumer is still largely paying out last year's food contracts at the high prices. We likely won't see grocery prices come down until next year.
Items that were £2 not so long ago are now rounded up to £3 in some cases.
It doesn't help that supermarkets are constantly playing games with pricing, trying to get people into the store with seemingly good deals that never last long, then experimenting with just how far they can push the greedflation on other items.
We need a measure of inflation that's based on the cost of essentials, primarily housing, energy, transport, and food - rather than stacking the 'basket of goods' with infrequent purchases that we expect to fall in price.