Inflation is high and supermarket prices are no exception. Shoppers return to the shops to find that the old favorites have jumped in price from one week to the next. The price of consumer goods is rising so fast that retail analysts have coined a new term, shelf shock.
Nestlé, owner of cat food KitKat, Häagen-Dazs and Felix, became the latest consumer goods group to warn of more pain ahead on Thursday, saying it had raised prices by 5.2% in the first three months of this year and that rising production costs will soon cause a new increase.
Retailers and manufacturers pass on increases from energy and fuel bills, packaging and raw materials to buyers.
Overall, the price of a basket of basic goods in the UK has risen by more than 11% since last March, according to a study by market analysts Assosia. Basic pasta, milk and instant coffee have double digits.
When we asked our readers where they are hit by inflation, they presented a long list of articles.
Dog food
Dog food
The price of a box of dog food with Sainsbury’s own label has risen from 40 pence to 70 pence. One reader said the 75% increase means that the cost of feeding her pet has risen to more than £ 250 a year. “It’s just a small item, but everything in my basket seems to have grown at the same rate, and salaries are stagnant,” she said.
The average price of a standard box of self-labeled dog food in supermarkets has risen by almost 42% in the last year to an average of 63 pence, according to an analysis by research firm Assosia for The Guardian.
The price of tin used for packaging has tripled in the last two years, while rising energy and transport costs and rising meat prices have raised the price of pet food.
Coffee drink
Cafe Pret a Manger
Pret’s filter coffee rose to £ 1.40 a cup in February after an earlier rise of £ 1.25 in May 2021 from just 99p. The increase of 41.4% in less than a year is due to a combination of factors, from ingredients to staff and energy bills.
The wholesale price of Arabica grains rose 70% last year, according to analysts at Rabobank, after one of Brazil’s largest producers suffered from a combination of drought and severe frosts in more than two decades. Global delivery costs also led to higher prices, while Pret’s staff bill increased, in part due to Brexit.
Lucozade
Lucozade
The owner of Lucozade changed the size of all his bottles from 1 liter to 900 ml last year, saying he did it to keep the price of the bottle at £ 1, “because we know this is an important price for our customers”. .
But at the end of last year, he raised the price of these smaller bottles, so most retailers are now selling them at £ 1.25 – a 38% increase in the price per ml from a year ago.
Prices for Lucozade and many other carbonated beverages have risen as the cost of packaging, transport and raw materials has risen sharply. Nutrient CO2, the gas that creates bubbles, has risen more than three times as it is closely linked to fertilizer production, which is under pressure from rising energy costs. Meanwhile, the cost of producing plastic bottles has jumped by about 15% in the last six months alone, according to industry insiders.
peanuts
peanuts
It’s high time for peanuts with inflation. In October last year, a bag of KP peanuts turned out to shrink to 225 grams, replacing 250 grams for 2.50 pounds. Now this same bag costs £ 2.65 in the leading supermarkets – or a 17% price increase per gram in less than a year.
Assosia found that dried roasted peanuts with their own label have not changed in price in the last year. However, industry insiders said salty snacks are generally facing inflation due to rising oil, packaging and energy prices. The war in Ukraine added to this pressure.
Sanitary napkins
Sanitary napkins
The price of the Always Ultra women’s pad has risen by just over 7.5% in recent weeks. But you may not have noticed: the packaging has remained the same – an average of £ 1.63 in the big supermarkets according to Assosia – but now contains 13 instead of 14 pads.
Tesco, Bodyform and Sainsbury’s have also marked women’s towels in recent weeks, according to Grocer trade magazine, amid rising energy and fuel costs. The magazine says Tesco has doubled the price of its cheapest Essentials pads to 4 pence each.
Charity Freedom4Girls said the problem means some women have to choose between feeding their family or buying health products, and there have been cases of women staying away from work because they can’t afford the products they need. to manage their cycle.
Toilet roll
Toilet rollers
One reader said that the price of the Tesco toilet roll has not changed, but the rolls seem to have shrunk considerably – perhaps to half their size.
The average price of nine packages of self-labeled toilet rolls in a British supermarket has risen by nearly 1% in the last year, according to an analysis by Assosia.
However, Tesco has apparently found a new way to wrap its toilet paper more tightly over cardboard tubes, which reduces the size of its large packages – without changing the number of sheets per roll. It says the innovation will save 67 tonnes of plastic packaging each year and reduce the trucks needed for transport.
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