In the UK, the era of cheap food, when a family of four can be fed for three pounds of sterling (293 rubles), comes to an end due to the growing costs of food producers. A significant rise in price of food products predicted the owner of the company’s largest company in the food industry 2 Sisters Group Range Singh Booran, known as the “Chicken King”, reports Reuters.
He warned that the rise in food prices can achieve two-digit values, since manufacturers will shift the growing costs on consumers. In addition to the consequences of Brexit and COVID-19, the fifth largest economy faced an acute lack of truckers drivers, movers, butchers and warehouse workers, which negatively affects supply chains. In addition, Boparan said that the cost of feed, additives, veterinary expenses and wages increased by 15-20 percent, electricity and carbon dioxide required for the food industry rose more than five times since the beginning of this year, and the packaging has become more expensive by 20 percent For six months.
Bowaran, which produces about a third of all poultry farming products consumed in the UK, does not think that the British government will be able to solve all problems or control inflation. The entrepreneur said that he would invest in the automation of production, because due to the reduction of supply in the labor market, employees have to pay more and more.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeatedly stated that the Great Britain’s economy should stop depending on the cheap import labor and that wages will have to raise. The Government of Johnson denies that Brexit has negatively affected the national economy, although no other European country has come across similar large-scale failures in supply chains.
Because of them, shelves in supermarkets were empty. According to the report of the National Statistical Service, 25 percent of the United Kingdom citizens cannot buy food products, at the same time 17 percent of the British faced difficulties when purchasing essential goods. Each tenth questioned about cutting expenses.
According to official data on consumer prices, in August, prices for food rose by 0.2 percent in annual terms, interrupting a nine-month decline period.