Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:08 pm Post subject: US food groups plan hefty price rises
US food companies are preparing another round of hefty price increases as soaring commodity costs force them to pass on rises to consumers.
Sara Lee, maker of meat products such as Jimmy Dean sausages, said costs would compel it to push up prices on meat lines by up to a fifth later this year.
We will be taking price increases on the vast majority of the protein products in this calendar year,” said C.J. Fraleigh, Sara Lee’s chief operating officer for North America, in a recent interview.
“Price increases vary a lot by type of products but the increases will be as low as zero and some products we will decrease on and other increases [will be] in excess of 20 per cent.” Kraft Foods, Kellogg’s, ConAgra and Tyson are also pushing through increases, which are expected to contribute to inflationary pressures in the US.
US food prices have jumped 5.3 per cent for the year ending in June, the Department of Labor reported last week, adding to the pressures on Americans from rising unemployment, a slumping housing market and higher petrol prices.
The increase in food prices was steep in June, when they moved up 0.8 per cent compared with 0.3 per cent in May. link
Joined: Sep 16, 2004 Posts: 4279 Location: Southwest WI
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 5:24 pm Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
Good... Let them skyrocket. Only way to push down the population is to squeeze the people like a big zit. _________________ "Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:27 pm Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
nobodypanic wrote:
frankthetank wrote:
Good... Let them skyrocket. Only way to push down the population is to squeeze the people like a big zit.
let them eat cake, eh?
I don't know about cake but I remember ice cream used to be sold in half gallon.
It's now sold in a container 25% smaller but 25% more expensive.
My calcs say that's a 66% increase in ice cream prices in the past 6 years...ouch!
or 11% increase every year (not compounded)
Joined: Jun 05, 2005 Posts: 350 Location: Portland Oregon, USA
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:19 pm Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
It's helpful to grasp the significance of these rises in prices by thinking of them as a pay cut. Your earnings stay the same, but you can't buy as much.
Joined: May 06, 2006 Posts: 833 Location: Tustin, CA
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:11 am Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
nobodypanic wrote:
frankthetank wrote:
Good... Let them skyrocket. Only way to push down the population is to squeeze the people like a big zit.
let them eat cake, eh?
Does this mean we need to stock up on Twinkies while we can still afford them? I hear they have a very long shelf life! _________________ Skeptical scrutiny in both Science and Religion is the means by which deep thoughts are winnowed from deep nonsense-Carl Sagan
Joined: Dec 06, 2005 Posts: 833 Location: Stopped at the border.
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:42 am Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
It is interesting that while Asia is trying to eat more protein the obvious solution for many Americans is going to be the opposite. Not that Americans go for obvious solutions.
The companies that place huge amounts of capital into advertising can only hope that American's habits are so deeply entrenched that the demand destruction that you would normally expect from market forces won't materialize. They hope that the lack of cooking skill and the aversion to new tastes and textures will win out over the loss of buying power. In other times those companies would win at this game, but peak oil won't be staunched by American's willingness to go into deeper debt rather than change their habits. That will only make the correction to come worse for some. Worse for us all really because the supply of many grains is literally eaten up by the protein business. Get used to beans.
All the same I don't think you are going to see Rachel Ray or Martha putting out a raft of 'poor mans' recipes. _________________ "Hope encourages men to take risks; men in a strong position may follow her without ruin, if not without loss. But when they stake all that they have to the last coin (for she is a spendthrift), she reveals her real self in the hour of failure."
Joined: Sep 08, 2005 Posts: 602 Location: Atlanta, GA
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:57 am Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
When I hear stories like this, I can only hope that the Age of the Corporation is drawing that much closer to its inevitable end. I would love nothing more than to see a huge, debilitating increase in food costs just so the people demand that we switch over to a socialistic economic system, nationalizing everything in sight.
This would be marked by an utter lack of advertising, very limited choices in supermarkets, very little "processed" foods and the virtual elimination of junk food. And oh, let's hope for an end to fast food as well...a world without McDonald's, Burger King, et al will be a far better place indeed.
It's going to be so much fun watching all those evil corporations commit hari kari on themselves....LOL. _________________ Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide...
...and the meek shall inherit the Earth!
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:06 am Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
Byron100 wrote:
When I hear stories like this, I can only hope that the Age of the Corporation is drawing that much closer to its inevitable end. I would love nothing more than to see a huge, debilitating increase in food costs just so the people demand that we switch over to a socialistic economic system, nationalizing everything in sight.
This would be marked by an utter lack of advertising, very limited choices in supermarkets, very little "processed" foods and the virtual elimination of junk food. And oh, let's hope for an end to fast food as well...a world without McDonald's, Burger King, et al will be a far better place indeed.
It's going to be so much fun watching all those evil corporations commit hari kari on themselves....LOL.
If you're serious about this you clearly don't understand how the food system in the Western World works. the idea that having companies like Nestle, Kraft etc. fall away and everything will be honky-dory is a nice one, but that's not how this would play out.
The majority of food these days is grown in a few places and in a few variets, they rely essentially on vast machinery and big business to make it viable. What's worse, they have probably ruined a lot of good farm land in the process, so even if we would go back to 1945, we probably would have horrible harvests.
On the processed food side (and that also involves most meats) everything evolves around corn. The problem is: You can't really eat it, that's not the sweet corn you get at the supermarket, but "industrial grade" corn.
I am no fan of the Big Corporations, I do believe they are one of the biggest reasons why we are in this crap, but if they disappear over night (or within a few years) the pain will be tremendous for everybody.
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:15 am Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
cube wrote:
nobodypanic wrote:
frankthetank wrote:
Good... Let them skyrocket. Only way to push down the population is to squeeze the people like a big zit.
let them eat cake, eh?
I don't know about cake but I remember ice cream used to be sold in half gallon.
It's now sold in a container 25% smaller but 25% more expensive.
My calcs say that's a 66% increase in ice cream prices in the past 6 years...ouch!
or 11% increase every year (not compounded)
Thomas Malthus strikes back!
check out the margerine tubs too. THey are smaller and yet more expensive. you dont notice if the old tubs are all gone. hah
Joined: Jul 02, 2008 Posts: 362 Location: Espinho, Porto, Portugal
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:48 am Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
cube wrote:
Thomas Malthus strikes back!
He's been keeping up all along, in Africa, Asia and some parts of South America, but we haven't been seeing him. He's back with a twist: right now people are hungry and there's plenty of food in the shelves. In the same way that oil companies are going back to old, previously considered uneconomic oil fields, maybe there will be an increase in production in the next years, because food being more expensive brings more incentives to growing food. Added value, that's it.
In a way, it's only natural. We broke apart most of nature's taboos thanks to oil, like the fact that, in nature, most investment is done in finding something to munch. In the western world, we got to a point that food investment is one of the smallest - therefore releasing capital to invest in consumer goods. So, Malthus is back with a vengeance: there will be food (at least for a few years on): you just won't be able to afford it!
My hope is that the transition comes slow and smooth, say some 20 years or so, to allow people to readjust. That means these (still moderate) price increases are positive. But I can't be so stiff as to say they're good: people are having to decide whether to starve or to lose their homes. Rather lose a foot or a hand?
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:42 pm Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
CarlosFerreira wrote:
My hope is that the transition comes slow and smooth, say some 20 years or so, to allow people to readjust. That means these (still moderate) price increases are positive. But I can't be so stiff as to say they're good: people are having to decide whether to starve or to lose their homes. Rather lose a foot or a hand?
I would have hoped for this too, but I don't really see that happening. The way we are currently growing and producing food is in and on itself unsustainable. Worse, in the process of growing food this way we have essentially destroyed the environmental basis (in a lot of places) to grow food traditionally.
Joined: May 06, 2006 Posts: 833 Location: Tustin, CA
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:43 pm Post subject: Re: US food groups plan hefty price rises
"Let them eat cake" (or Twinkies) Marie Antoinette. _________________ Skeptical scrutiny in both Science and Religion is the means by which deep thoughts are winnowed from deep nonsense-Carl Sagan
Last edited by SILENTTODD on Thu Jul 24, 2008 12:51 am; edited 1 time in total
All times are GMT - 6 Hours Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5Next
Page 1 of 5
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
News
Discussions
Resources
Members
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
