A recent survey conducted in the United Kingdom found that a quarter of respondents have resorted to skipping meals as inflationary pressures and a worsening food crisis in the UK conflate in what the Bank of England recently dubbed an “apocalyptic” outlook for consumers.
Over 80% of Britons shared that the exponentially rising cost of living and surging prices of necessities such as food and fuel have caused them widespread worry, stress, and anxiety about what the future may hold.
The survey, released last Tuesday by Ipsos and Sky News, spoke to 2 000 Britons, of which, 89% said that they were concerned about how the cost-of-living crisis would affect the country over the next six months, while 83% were concerned about their personal circumstances.
While the situation was relatively comparable across the country, those on lower incomes were more concerned, with more than half of those earning less than £20 000 (R397 000) a year expressing "extreme fear" about making ends meet this year.
A popular British food services company told the BBC that schools were now facing “difficult decisions” as to whether to reduce meal sizes or use lower quality ingredients amid surging prices.
The survey findings come after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told the press on Monday that rising prices and food scarcity issues from the Russia-Ukraine conflict are a major source of concern for the United Kingdom and many other nations throughout the world.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty around this situation,” Bailey told the Treasury Committee at the House of Commons. “Sorry for being apocalyptic for a moment, but that is a major concern,” he said.
Bailey reiterated that external variables would have a stronger impact on price increases than previous or upcoming interest rate spikes. The governor of the central bank, who has overseen four interest rate hikes in a row since December 2021, rebuffing claims that policymakers should have acted sooner to combat inflation.
Grocery inflation hit 5.9% in April in the UK, its highest level since December 2011, according to market researcher Kantar. That as wider UK inflation hit a 30-year-high of 7% last month amid rising energy costs.
British retailer Marks & Spencer warned on Tuesday that food price inflation could soar further to 10% by the end of this year.
“It wouldn’t be surprising to see food price inflation over the course of the year running towards 8-10%,” Archie Norman, chair of the high-end food brand, told BBC radio Tuesday.
“Some have gone through now, but there is still quite a lot to come.”
Food scarcity concerns have been mounting over recent months as the war in Ukraine has exacerbated existing food supply chain issues.
Ukraine, seen as a “breadbasket of Europe,” has been unable to export grains, fertilisers, and vegetable oil amid the conflict, while ongoing fighting has destroyed crop fields and disrupted regular harvests.
Ukraine's largest producer and exporter of chicken, MHP told CNBC last Tuesday that the current situation amounted to an agricultural crisis.
John Rich, MHP executive chair and industry veteran told CNBC that he had “never seen anything like this.”
“We have Covid, we have a war, we have the China Covid-zero policy, which has made freight almost impossible, and we have climate change. All of this has compounded, frankly, into a non-functional global supply chain system,” Rich said.
The United States and the European Union said over the weekend that they are looking at how to improve food supply chains and navigate export restrictions.
It comes after India prohibited wheat exports on Saturday to "manage the country's overall food security." Indonesia implemented export limitations on palm oil, a vital component in many food products, to alleviate domestic food shortages.
Current Affairs