The price of junk food in supermarkets like pizza, crisps and chocolate is rising far faster than healthier options, hitting households who want to buy treats for their families.
The overall price of food rose 17.3 per cent in the year to June 2023, down from 18.3 per cent in May, according to the latest consumer prices index (CPI) inflation figures from the Office for National Statistics.
But delving into the June price hikes for individual foodstuffs reveals that the cost of treats is rising faster than the month before, whereas price rise of most other items have started to slow.
For example, the price of pizza and quiche has shot up a whopping 61 per cent, chocolate is up 45 per cent and crisps have risen 9 per cent.
Soaring: The cost of junk food has soared by up to 60%, new ONS figures reveal, while most other food price rises have started to fall
Jam, syrups and confectionery have risen by 18 per cent and soft drinks are up 19 per cent.
The reason items such as chocolate, jam and syrups are rising is largely due to increasing sugar prices.
Sugar prices are at a 10-year high due to shortages and poor weather in many sugar-growing regions, such as Europe, Brazil and Thailand.
That in turn pushes up the prices of food and drinks that use a lot of sugar.
Harvir Dhillon, economist at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: ‘Sugar prices have been rising over the past few months. Most recently, they’ve been impacted by production bottlenecks in key producer nations.
‘As a result, the lower export availabilities of sugar have not been enough to satisfy the strong global demand.’
A BRC spokesperson said the organisation had no data on why the price of crisps, pizzas and quiches are rising so fast.
However, this may also be due to price hikes for the ingredients needed to make them.
Oil and cheese prices have seen some of the steepest price increases of any foods during the cost of living crisis.
The price of oils and fats used for frying rose 23.1 per cent in the year to June 2023. Likewise, potato prices increased by 19.1 per cent in the same period.
Meanwhile cheese increased by 25.1 per cent in price, while flour used to make pizza bases is up by 17.6 per cent.
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