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From Mercury
HELEN KEMPTON
TASMANIANS are paying 30 per cent more for their daily bread and butter than they were six months ago and shoppers should brace themselves for more pain at the checkout.
Rice, which already costs a third more than it did in January, is set to become harder to find and more expensive still.
And higher grain costs, which have sent the price of a loaf of bread up by 31 per cent, are not expected to fall any time soon.
A comparison of staple grocery prices in our supermarkets from January with yesterday showed that the price of a 500g block of butter had increased 33.8 per cent, a two-litre bottle of milk by more than 10 per cent and a kilo of white rice by 32 per cent.
Cripps Nubake general manager Paul Gadomski said grain prices had risen three times in the past 12 months, adding 20c to the cost of producing a standard loaf of white bread.
"Then you have the rise in diesel fuel which has doubled the cost of distributing our bread around Tasmania and the massive hike in power costs in February which saw our electricity bill jump by 25 per cent," Mr Gadomski said.
Meanwhile, a Federal Government inquiry into grocery prices continues. A report which should show where in the food chain profits are being made, and by whom, is due by the end of July.
Yesterday Brighton councillor Leigh Gray added his voice to calls for another big player on the state's supermarket landscape.
Mr Gray has written to German supermarket giant ALDI encouraging it to come to Tasmania and has asked Premier David Bartlett to lobby ALDI, with its national food pricing policy, to set up shop.
Rice will be the next staple food item to skyrocket in price. Australia has just recorded its worst rice harvest in 80 years and countries which traditionally export rice are stockpiling supplies.
Rising fuel costs are having both negative and positive impacts on Tasmania's independent supermarkets.
While retailers are paying higher fuel surcharges, the higher cost of putting petrol in the family car is encouraging some people to shop closer to home.
Tasmanian Independent Retailers chief executive Grant Hinchcliffe stressed that the increase in shelf prices represented higher wholesale prices, not an increase in retailer margins.
Mr Hinchcliffe said the cost of transporting fresh produce was now 30 to 40 per cent higher than at this time last year.
Welfare agencies are seeing more people needing help with food costs – but the amount available for emergency relief remains static.
"We can normally only give $30 to see someone through the week," said Salvation Army public relations officer Stuart Foster.
That doesn't go far when a three-litre bottle of milk and loaf of bread cost almost $10.
TASMANIANS are paying 30 per cent more for their daily bread and butter than they were six months ago and shoppers should brace themselves for more pain at the checkout.
Rice, which already costs a third more than it did in January, is set to become harder to find and more expensive still.
And higher grain costs, which have sent the price of a loaf of bread up by 31 per cent, are not expected to fall any time soon.
A comparison of staple grocery prices in our supermarkets from January with yesterday showed that the price of a 500g block of butter had increased 33.8 per cent, a two-litre bottle of milk by more than 10 per cent and a kilo of white rice by 32 per cent.
Cripps Nubake general manager Paul Gadomski said grain prices had risen three times in the past 12 months, adding 20c to the cost of producing a standard loaf of white bread.
"Then you have the rise in diesel fuel which has doubled the cost of distributing our bread around Tasmania and the massive hike in power costs in February which saw our electricity bill jump by 25 per cent," Mr Gadomski said.
Meanwhile, a Federal Government inquiry into grocery prices continues. A report which should show where in the food chain profits are being made, and by whom, is due by the end of July.
Yesterday Brighton councillor Leigh Gray added his voice to calls for another big player on the state's supermarket landscape.
Mr Gray has written to German supermarket giant ALDI encouraging it to come to Tasmania and has asked Premier David Bartlett to lobby ALDI, with its national food pricing policy, to set up shop.
Rice will be the next staple food item to skyrocket in price. Australia has just recorded its worst rice harvest in 80 years and countries which traditionally export rice are stockpiling supplies.
Rising fuel costs are having both negative and positive impacts on Tasmania's independent supermarkets.
While retailers are paying higher fuel surcharges, the higher cost of putting petrol in the family car is encouraging some people to shop closer to home.
Tasmanian Independent Retailers chief executive Grant Hinchcliffe stressed that the increase in shelf prices represented higher wholesale prices, not an increase in retailer margins.
Mr Hinchcliffe said the cost of transporting fresh produce was now 30 to 40 per cent higher than at this time last year.
Welfare agencies are seeing more people needing help with food costs – but the amount available for emergency relief remains static.
"We can normally only give $30 to see someone through the week," said Salvation Army public relations officer Stuart Foster.
That doesn't go far when a three-litre bottle of milk and loaf of bread cost almost $10.
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