The cause Of Rising Food Costs Revealed
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 4:37 amRises in the cost of food are continuing to be a burden on consumers, it has been revealed.
According to Johnny Stern, director of mySupermarket, Consumers appear to be increasingly finding that food prices are going up. This was blamed partly on the recent poor weather conditions resulting in a poor crop of various produce and causing a shortfall in supply. However, it was asserted that overall rise in demand has meant and that in particular ‘basic products’ have gone up.
He said: “On the one hand you’ve got increased demand for a lot of these basic products and - on the other hand - from the supply side you’ve got a shortage of supply due to a bad crop of various products, due to certain weather conditions and it’s the combination of the demand reasons and the supply reasons which has caused the increase in the price of basic products - a double whammy effectively.”
On top of that, it was stated that the continued rise in the cost of oil is impacting upon food values. One way in which this has occurred has involved the increasing cost of transporting raw products to distribution outlets. Here retailers have been accused of shifting the effect of rising transport costs on to the buyer. However, it was stated that as the price of oil increase, more time is being dedicated towards research into alternative resources. And whilst at first people might assume that this means food prices will reduce, Mr Stern announced that this is not the case. It was claimed that some of the more staple food products are now not only being sought after to be eaten but are also being used to provide an alternative energy source, something which again drives up demand and costs for such produce.
In addition to price increases - not only in food but additionally in areas such as petrol - it is quite possible that People discover themselves struggling with greater difficulty to manage with the many constraints on their expenditure. This might mean that making repayments on mortgages and loans, meeting the cost of domestic bills and transport costs additionally become harder to cope with.
Mr Stern’s comments come after research carried out by Verdict show that the “typical basket” of 100 grocery items was 5.8 per cent more expensive in May compared to the beginning of this year. In the firm’s study it was also showed that the cost of fruit and vegetables has increased 16 per cent since January, with dairy produce showing an increase of 6.2 per cent. However, it would appear that people might see the cost of grocery shopping having a bigger effect on their spending as it was reported food price inflation will be strong over the rest of the year and into 2009.
In the face of rising food costs, those consumers concerned about their ability to plan ahead with their cash over the coming months might wish to consider making use of cheap loan. By doing this it is quite plausible borrowers can meet numerous money constraints at once, leaving them with a single affordable monthly repayment to make. Getting a loan for the intentions of supplementing spending as who live costs surge may also be recommended after TheEnergyShop reported that price rises by Britain’s six major fuel providers saw the typical utilities bill fortify by 14 per cent during the first few months of this year.
