FAMILIES are being stung by “greedflation” on some of our best-loved snacks, a Sun on Sunday probe can reveal.
We found the price of crisps, biscuits and other treats are soaring well beyond the rising cost of the ingredients, deepening the cost-of-living crisis.
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Tonight experts said our investigation provided the latest example of shops and manufacturers exploiting rising inflation to boost profits.
Leading economist Dr George Dibb, from the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the profiteering was a “scandal” and called for an immediate investigation.
The Sun on Sunday analysed the prices of some of our most popular snacks now compared with a year ago.
A snack pack of Jaffa Cakes contains 19 per cent chocolate, which has increased in price by 14 per cent since last April, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Yet over the same period the price of the snack pack itself has increased from £1.01 to £2 — a leap of 99 per cent.
The makers and sellers of Hobnobs are hiking prices in a similar way.
The biscuits are made up of 40 per cent rolled oats which increased in price by 35.5 per cent in the past year, according to the ONS.
Yet some stores now charge £1.50 for a 255g pack, which is up 50 per cent on the £1 price tag in early 2022.
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Nature Valley protein bars, Peperamis, Walkers Sensations crisps and Snack A Jacks Rice Cakes have also increased in price well beyond the level of inflation.
Commenting on our findings, Dr Gibb said: “We know the rising cost of energy is pushing up inflation, but companies are using this environment to increase their prices more quickly than their costs are increasing.
“And that means they are getting greater profits. The focus of our policymakers must change.
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“The Government cannot keep telling people not to ask for major pay rises while being extremely relaxed about companies increasing their profit margins. We need as much attention on greedflation.
“The Competition and Markets Authority needs to be ensuring profiteering doesn’t happen and should be announcing pre-emptive investigations into this.”
Consumer watchdog Which? called on supermarkets to bear more of the burden of rising prices.
Sue Davies, head of food policy, said: “Supermarkets have had rising costs but they haven’t felt the same pain as their customers, which is why it is really important that they step up now.
Rocketing prices
“They need to do more to make sure everyone has access to affordable, healthy food.”
Our report comes as supermarkets face growing claims they are failing to curb rocketing food prices, after the cost of groceries jumped to a record high.
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Food and drink inflation rose to 19.1 per cent last month, the sharpest rise in 45 years, thanks to increases across everything from bread and cucumbers to eggs and milk.
This meant that overall inflation remained in the double digits at 10.1 per cent.
The ONS said that while international food prices had started to fall, supermarkets and manufacturers had not passed this on to customers.
It explained: “You would expect to see global food price falls reflected in supermarkets, but we’re not there yet.”
Food production costs have been steadily dropping since their peak in October last year, and there are now calls for firms to pass on lower prices.
A report last month indicated that large corporations are actually fuelling inflation with price increases that go beyond rising costs of materials and wages.
According to an analysis of hundreds of company accounts by the Unite union, supermarkets, food manufacturers and shipping companies are among hundreds of major firms that have improved their profits and protected shareholder dividends amid the cost-of- living crisis.
In the UK, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda made combined profits of £3.2billion in 2021, almost double pre-pandemic levels, the union’s 170-page report showed.
Costs continue to climb
But last night Andrew Opie, the Director of Food & Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, insisted supermarkets were doing their best to keep prices low.
He said: “Supermarket costs continue to climb in the face of high energy bills, transport costs and labour shortages, as well as the higher prices demanded by food manufacturers and farmers.”
Clive Black, food retail analyst at investment group Shore Capital, added: “No one is comfortable with food inflation at 19 per cent because that makes shoppers start to reduce how many items they are buying, or switch to cheaper brands.
“A bit of inflation is helpful to supermarkets and manufacturers, but not at these levels.”
A spokesman for Walkers said: “Like many businesses, the costs of producing our crisps has been impacted by a number of factors, but we always strive to provide high quality, competitively priced products to our customers.
“Retail prices of our products are at the discretion of retailers.”
McVitie’s and the parent companies for Nature Valley, Peperami and Snack A Jacks have all been contacted for comment.
STIFFED BY BIG BRANDS
By Ashley Armstrong
BRITS are under attack from the snacks as the soaring cost of our favourite treats is piling pressure on our wallets as well as our waistlines.
Food inflation hit a record high of 19 per cent in March, according to this week’s official figures, but to many shoppers it feels like a bigger hit than that.
We are creatures of habit, bunging the same mix of favourites and essentials in our trolleys week in, week out.
We therefore have a frequent reminder that our food shop is becoming ridiculously expensive.
That’s partly because big food companies such as Mars, Nestle, McVitie’s and Walkers have been the fastest to increase prices at the first whiff of their profit margins coming under pressure when they are in a much better position to swallow extra production costs.
Big food firms typically make around 12 per cent profit margins – six times as much as the average UK supermarket – while farmers are currently making zero profit margins due to the soaring costs they face.
We know stores are battling to keep prices low, knowing that if they don’t then more shoppers will switch to Aldi or Lidl or simply start buying less.
Given that a lot of supermarket own-brand versions are made in the same factories and often with the same ingredients, it shows just how much food brands rip us off by paying for a label. Still, brands work by creating loyalists.
But knowing we are being stiffed will leave a sour taste in the mouths of shoppers.
