Unless commodity costs decrease or the shift to cheaper store-brand products continues, merchants, consumer goods firms, and investors predict that shoppers worldwide will pay even more for groceries this year than they did in 2022.
Retailers and manufacturers of consumer products have been mired in difficult price discussions for over a year, with COVID-related supply chain bottlenecks beginning to cause friction in 2021, reported Reuters.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this has escalated into battles over the high cost of raw commodities and energy, with rising costs of basic consumables ranging from bread to milk and meat exacerbating Europe’s cost-of-living crisis.
According to Kantar, Britons paid a record 16.7% more for food in the four weeks ending January 22 compared to the same period last year. The food index in the United States, which includes meals consumed at home and in cafés and restaurants, climbed 10.4% in the year ending in December.
Ariel Ben Solomon is the Growth and Strategy manager at Ecomhunt. He is the host of the Ecomhunt Podcast. Can be followed on Twitter at @ArielBenSolomon
