Breakfast index rise in UK: how much Britons are paying more for bread and milk

 

Based on the latest ONS data, the average price of a full English breakfast has increased by 19.5% compared to a year ago

Highest inflation in UK in 41 years hitting consumers at home

Higher-than-expected is taking a toll on UK consumers' grocery shopping, leading to food poverty for many families.

Bloomberg's monthly Breakfast Index shows that the cost of the basic ingredients that go into an English "fry-up" has risen significantly from a year ago, with milk increasing by 51% and butter by 31%. It's yet another measure of how thousands of families can't avoid paying ever-higher prices for the foods they regularly put on the table.

The index crunches data from the UK's Office for National Statistics, looking at the prices of the key components in an English breakfast - sausage, bacon, eggs, bread, butter, tomatoes, mushrooms, milk, tea and coffee. It gives a sense of how the highest inflation in 41 years is hitting consumers at home.

"Supermarkets have been forced to pass on input cost price increases to already hard-pressed customers," said Lisa Hooker, industry head for consumer markets at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. bread."

The latest ONS figures show the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 16.4% in October from a year earlier, and this follows last week's Kantar data showing a rise of 14.7%.

Still, some supermarket operators dispute that prices are rising dramatically. J Sainsbury's Plc, the UK's second biggest grocer, said its inflation figures are in the single digits because it looks at every product sold, while market figures often only include the 500 most-bought items .

"We think it's important to look at the full range of products that customers can buy, not just a select range," chief executive Simon Roberts said on a call with reporters earlier this month.

Based on the latest ONS data, the average price of a full English breakfast has increased by 19.5% compared to a year ago. Using product sizes provided by the statistics service, the total cost of buying all the ingredients needed has risen to £32.98 ($39.23), compared with £28.42 a year ago.

While prices for all major breakfast items are up from a year ago, month-over-month comparisons show declines for tea bags, bacon and sausage. Many shoppers are opting for cheaper discount supermarkets, buying own brand products and keeping fewer items in their baskets to save money.

With the economy heading into recession, the outlook for consumers is grim. This is putting further pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Bank of England to act.

"Unfortunately, there are few signs that the cost of living crisis will end soon," said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium.