Inflated food prices won’t be going down any time soon, the president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has warned.
It comes after the UK’s food price in March had the second biggest yearly hike among the G-20 countries after Turkey.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the UK’s consumer price inflation (CPI) in March was 10.1 percent compared to the same month last year. But the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages grew by 19.2 in the same 12-month period, the fastest in 45 years, according to ONS estimates.
The price hike of food was mainly driven by higher production costs, which were exacerbated by soaring energy prices following the end of COVID-19 lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Energy costs have begun to climb down from the second half of last year, but NFU President Minette Batters told The Times of London that she believes “pressure on gas prices is going to remain higher” while the war in Ukraine continues.
Food inflation has been high in many European countries but “with the cost of living crisis, nobody wants to [talk] about people being forced into paying more,” Batters said. “I don’t see the situation changing any time soon.”
EU food prices increased by 19.17 percent in the 12 months to March, around the same levels with the UK’s food inflation.
The UK currently imports more than half of its fruit and vegetables, and recent shortages on supermarket shelves have exposed the risks associated with relying on imports.
The latest figures from the Food Foundation suggest that food insecurity has doubled in the last year to 9.3 million adults (17.7 percent of households) and one in four households with children (4 million children).
The BoE’s latest forecast projected sharp falls in CPI in April and over the coming months.
It believes food prices will also begin to ease, but was “less sure” about the timing, the governor said.
Bailey told reporters evidence collected by the bank’s agents suggested food producers have been expecting production costs would moderate.
Also on Monday, the Competition and Markets Authority said it would also have a closer look at competition in food supply chains.
In an update on the cost of living crisis, the watchdog said: “Grocery and food shopping are essential purchases. We recognise that global factors are behind many of the grocery price increases, and we have seen no evidence at this stage of specific competition problems.“But, given ongoing concerns about high prices, we are stepping up our work in the grocery sector to help ensure competition is working well and people can exercise choice with confidence.”
Batters’s comments also came ahead of the Downing Street Food Summit on Tuesday.
Food Foundation Executive Director Anna Taylor said the campaign group hopes the summit will “result in renewed commitment to producing a robust horticulture strategy which will support the sector to flourish and bring many benefits to the nation’s health, the environment, the economy, and the UK’s food security.”
She said it was “extremely disappointing that the government had dropped plans to publish the strategy ahead of Tuesday’s summit.”
Taylor said the strategy “presented a chance to create long-term, joined up policies to support the threatened UK horticulture sector to reach its enormous potential, as well as an opportunity to secure better health outcomes for citizens by ensuring we have enough affordable fruit and veg,” adding that it “should be high on the list of government priorities.”
