Bidenflation Meets Breadenflation? UK Bread Prices Set to Rise 20 Per Cent

TUNBRIDGE WELLS, ENGLAND - JANUARY 12: A man wearing a Union Jack flag design face mask sh
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Peter Caddle

The U.S. isn’t the only nation looking at a more expensive Thanksgiving season, with UK bread prices set to climb by up to 20 per cent in the coming weeks, it is claimed.

The cost of bread in Britain follows soaring wheat prices, which is understood to be the result of increasing fuel costs as well as rising global demand.

The foodstuff has already risen by 26.7 per cent this year, with other wheat-based goods, such as pasta and animal feed, also set to see steep increases, The Sun reported. Ultimately, the price of bread could rise a further 20 per cent in the coming weeks, the paper said.

Retail analyst at Shore Capital, Clive Black told the paper that over the next few months “food price inflation is set to rise further” and will disproportionately impact lower-income families.

“Food makes up about 10 per cent of people’s expenditure, although the poorest have less to spend. For the wealthy and those in the middle, a more expensive pork chop or a slice of bread is a blink of an eye.”

Rising costs are believed to have also come as a result of a shortage of the gas used in the baking ovens used to cook bread. Record-setting prices for petrol and increases in freight costs have only exacerbated the issue as much of the wheat used in British bread is farmed in Canada.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) aired doubts over whether upcoming harvests will produce enough to alleviate international demand and ease prices, with heavy rainfall in Australia being cited as a reason for prices remaining high.

“Rain during harvest has negative effects on quality and sources suggest harvest so far is of large volumes of lower protein wheat,” a recent market report stated.

The seismic increase in bread costs coincides with a rapid rise in the cost of living within the UK, with inflation hitting a ten-year high last month.

Energy costs in particular have hit the consumer hard, rising 28.1% over the past year, while petrol prices have risen 25.4p, to a total of £1.40 per litre.

Brits have also seen significant increases in the cost of transportation, education, as well as other, non-wheat-based foods this year.

However, the UK isn’t the only nation struggling with the increasing costs of wheat-based goods.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, the cost of dinner rolls within the United States has risen by fifteen per cent.

Other holiday food favourites have also seen significant price increases, such as cranberries, which have seen an 11 per cent increase, as well as pie crusts which have risen 20 per cent. Most notably, the cost of a Turkey has risen a whopping 24 per cent.

With other foodstuffs experiencing similar double-digit percentage increases as a result of rampant inflation — mockingly dubbed ‘Bidenflation’ to criticise President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy  — this Thanksgiving is set to be the most expensive on record for American families.

 

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