- The end of the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine generated the worst conditions for the price of raw materials, triggering inflation around the world.
- Sales are growing in discount supermarkets, such as Lidl, in Europe.
- Inflation in the UK is expected to peak in October at over 13 percent.
Just as the pandemic changed life around the world in an unprecedented way, inflation, which is proving unstoppable, is also altering people’s habits, in this case, in terms of consumption.
The increases are not only taking place in Latin American countries (such as Mexico, Colombia or Argentina), but also in those of the so-called “first world”, such as the United States and, very especially, Europe.
A fact that shows the seriousness of the situation: inflation in UK supermarkets hit 11.6 percent in August, This is the highest rise since 2008, the year in which the records of the market analysis company began. kantarauthor of the investigation.
According to the estimate, this increase adds each Briton $640 to their annual food spending and is the biggest increase in the cost of living in decades.
Inflation and changing consumer trends
According to Kantar, the increase in prices is making the British buy more “white” brands to try to lower the cost of their weekly purchases.
Supermarket data corroborates this: sales of these “white” brands increased by 7.3 percent.
With this change, the sale of this class of items now represents half of the market, the highest level since Kantar did the research.
In the report, Fraser McKevittresponsible of retail and information on consumption of Kantar, speaks of buyers making “changes in their lifestyle to face the additional demand that increases in the domestic budget suppose”.
The prices that have risen the most in the last year are those of products derived from milk, such as butter and yogurt, as well as chicken.
The inflationary peak would be in October
The Bank of England’s latest forecast is for inflation to peak at 13.3 percent year-on-year in October, the highest since 1980.
The rise in inflation is due, among other things, to the increase in the cost of energy, together with the problems related to the exit of the UK from the European Union and the interruptions in the supply chain that were aggravated by the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Another phenomenon that is taking place is the increase in supermarket sales low costlike Lidl, which registered an 18 percent increase in cases.
Due to the heat wave, the British also spent heavily on mineral water and soft drinks, whose sales increased by 22 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
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