‘FAMILY FOOD BILLS TO SOAR’ roared the front page of the Daily Mail today, alongside gems including ‘What your walk says about your sex life’. You can guess where Daily Bread turned first.
Back on the food story, the Mail reported that the severe drought in America’s corn belt is set to put booster rockets on the price of staples including bread, pasta and meat. Rather than concentrating on the potential hardship for millions of consumers - bluntly referenced this week by a senior Unilever executive - the Mail viewed the rising prices through the prism of Tory electoral strategy, interpreting a lack of rain on the plains of Iowa as a personal blow to George Osborne.
Despite that rather parochial viewpoint, there’s more than a grain of truth in the report. As The Grocer revealed last weekend, it’s not just grain prices heating up. The cost of glucose is closely linked to grain prices, with maize a key supply of the ingredient. And though the price of glucose is actually down from last year’s high, it’ll likely soon be on an upward trend once again - impacting, in turn, on the price of soft drinks and confectionery over here. For the UK’s long-suffering dairy farmers, meanwhile, the drought could be good news, with a global shortfall in milk supply set to give them the upper hand at last.
Then again, in the same pages of today’s Mail you’ll find full-page adverts from Asda advertising deep discounts on products including Warburtons bread and Heinz Ketchup. That illustrates the delicate balancing act facing the mults at a time when they can’t afford to be seen hiking prices. That should give shoppers a degree of insulation from the vagaries of the commodities markets.
Meanwhile, there’s probably a feature to be had somewhere on what the state of your grocery shopping bill says about your sex life.
No comments yet