Having to put Food Costs ahead of Quality in a Recession isn’t Acceptable

Food Shopping

Mama’s Food Shop

Having to put Food Costs ahead of Quality in a Recession isn’t Acceptable

Article by Alison Withers

Copyright (c) 2010 Alison Withers

It’s been a difficult couple of years for shoppers struggling to make ends meet while various global forces have buffeted food prices.

So how have food shopping habits changed over this period? What has been the impact on the growing trend for natural, healthier foods and can anything be done to make food prices less volatile?

Oil price rises in early 2008 had a major impact on food prices – both because of the increased costs to farmers of producing them, plus increased costs of packaging materials and of transporting to the shops.

Alarm signals began to sound about food security and food scarcity in some parts of the world with large populations already living in extreme poverty and less able to absorb rising costs.

It was noticed in the more prosperous parts of the world, like the USA, that shoppers were becoming more aggressive in buying products on special offer.

Particularly in staple commodities like milk, bread, meats, coffee and cheese where there is less of a perceived difference between branded and private label quality they were also beginning to trade down to private label and value brand.

Then, in the autumn of 2008 came the credit crunch and by June 2009 the BBC was reporting that in the UK “one of the first things we’ve tried to cut back on is our spending on food”.

Over the previous year food prices had risen by 8% and people had cut back on eating out in favour of staying in and cooking from scratch.

Local independent shops were reportedly receiving £50million less in sales and organic food sales were down 11% year on year.

While it was clear that organic and locally-produced foods – perceived traditionally to be more expensive – might be a loser the picture has turned out to be mixed.

For the year 2009 consultancy and research firm Organic Monitor estimated overall growth on organics in Europe was between 2 and 6 per cent, a drop from the double-digit growth rates of previous years but still unusually strong for a premium priced category.

Within Europe there were significant differences between countries. According to the recession’s severity growth rates varied with organic sales worst hit in the UK and Spain – countries which were both badly affected by the recession, so consumers traded down to ordinary products and switched to cheaper retailers where organics have a weaker presence.

In Nov 2009, according to data compiled by the Steel Can Recycling Information Bureau, consumers suffering under the credit crunch were also eating 20% more canned food and drink than in 2007. Figures from Mintel highlighted a sales rise, with canned food worth £718m in the UK, with a predicted rise to £792m by 2012.

In the US and UK shoppers were also choosing cheaper cuts of meat with 40% of shoppers saying they had changed the way they purchase meat and poultry compared with before the recession.

So where are we now?

Although the recession is said to be officially over in most places people who have lost their jobs or gone onto part time working are still feeling the after-effects.

In the year to March 2010, UK food prices rose 1.2 per cent year-on-year, according to the British Retail Consortium’s price index.

One factor that put upward pressure on prices was the return of VAT to 17.5 per cent on 1 January 2010. But also commodity price changes put upward pressure on food retail prices as fuel prices and packaging material costs increased.

In December 2009 The Food Channel predicted that a top food trend for 2010 would be for consumers to focus on buying pure, simple, clean and sustainable basic ingredients and shift from convenience foods to scratch cooking

Despite the rise in food prices there are signs that people are buying organic again. This year organic sales are expected to creep back up by 2-5%, according to the Soil Association’s Organic Market Report 2010.

The squeeze on farmers to produce more at lower costs continues, meanwhile, and the EU has approved a &pound20million farming crisis fund to give limited amounts of aid of up to €15,000 (£13,214) to UK farmers affected by the economic crisis until 31 December 2010.

So the pressure is still on to find more sustainable ways of farming to satisfy both consumer demand for healthy, natural, chemical – free food and the farmers’ need to increase production in a sustainable way that preserves the quality of their land allows them to earn a reasonable living.

The CEO of the main US-based company researching and developing low-chem agricultural products has agreed on record that organic is currently a “middle class” option and he believes natural, healthy foods should be available affordably to everyone.

One way to achieve all this may lie in the new generations of biopesticides, biofungicides and yield enhancers that companies like his are increasingly developing to replace the older and more damaging chemical agricultural products being taken off the market.

£2billion shopping spree today
Food Shopping
An astonishing three-quarters of all the motorists in Britain will drive to a shop. And Morrisons forecast that 12.44pm today will be the busiest minute of the year for food shopping. Analysts Synovate say high street sales could top the £2.5billion …

Food Shopping question by Aileen HK: Hong Kong – other than shopping, food, the peak, ocean park, have you ever found that it is a romantic city?
Will you share what your romantic experiences you had here in Hong Kong with us? Where to? How did you arrange it? For proposal of a marriage? or just dinner? Any good spots for dating which impressed you most? Is Hong Kong a good choice for Honeymoon trip?

I’m tried of people asking – food, shopping, Ocean Park, etc., what else we can do here in this cosmotalitan city?
Oh.. I was sleepy.. typo.. “cosmopolitan”, I forgot that I have posted this question last night..!!!! gssss!

Food Shopping best answer:

Answer by shuk-yin
the romantic public places may not be safe in HK. Try the seashore along the city center on both side of the harbour, i.e. the 2 star ferry terminals on the HK side and Kowloon side in the evening after it gets dark. The horbour is beautiful with reasonable no. of people to be safe yet still romantic. The seabreeze makes you feel great. If you are on the Kowloon side, they may still have the musical laser show around 8 pm on the HK side and you can see it only on the Kowloon side. It was there about 2 years ago, maybe they still have that. Google it. Another place you can go to is an island called Cheung Zhow (or sound like that), you have to take a ferry from HK Star Ferry. It’s like HK in the 50s, no cars, older buildings ,more rural like. The resturant on top of Tai Ping Shan, (you can take either the peak tram or the local bus to go up) is good only if there’s some north winds to blow away the polutted air so you can see the harbour below you, orelse, it’s hazy and not so great!