From milk to crisps: why the price of basic food items is rising
Households in the UK are facing a cost of living crisis as the price of essential items goes up and a cut in take-home pay looms in the shape of a national insurance increase.
Across the board, the latest official figures show inflation on food and drink prices was running at 4.8% in December, although that disguises bigger rises in the cost of some essentials.
In the first of a series examining the causes and effects of rising bills, we’ve looked at why some of the basic items in your supermarket basket now cost more than they did a year ago – and why there could be more pain to come.
The cost of pasta has been pushed up by a rise in the price of its key ingredient: durum wheat. About two-thirds of the world’s traded durum wheat comes from Canada, and the extreme heat and drought that hit the country last year took its toll on crops. Other countries also produced lower harvests than expected, resulting in a scramble for supplies that pushed prices to a 13-year high.
A 500g bag of supermarket own-brand pasta that cost about 55p in late 2020 is now typically 70p – a rise of more than a quarter. According to the website Italianfood.net, planting in Italy was delayed in the autumn as a result of drought followed by heavy rains, which could affect this year’s harvest and mean prices stay high. Ultra-cheap penne could be a thing of the past.
The latest official inflation figures showed margarine and similar spreads had risen in price by more than 27% in the year to December. On the shelves at Tesco, for example, a 1kg tub of Stork has got up from £2.10 to £2.65 since last January. Meanwhile, the official figures showed cooking oils were up by 13%. It’s the oil in margarine that has pushed up the price: rapeseed and palm oil have
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