Genie Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Payrise for me in 6 weeks, looking likely to be 5%+ (rpi + 0.5%) to go with the 5% I got last November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 The food price inflation is a lot to do with the devaluation of the pound. The UK imports a lot of food (or grain/fertilizer etc to make food or oil/petrol to transport food) and it costs a lot more when the pound is worth a third less than it used to be. It's happening worldwide, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Yeah but for different reasons in different places. The USA is in a similar boat to us with an undervalued currency. Australia saw a spike after the flooding and cyclone earlier this year wiped out crops in Queensland. Euro countries are doing much better than us as are the Scandinavian ones on food inflation but there was a rise after the drought last summer in Russia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 The food price inflation is a lot to do with the devaluation of the pound. The UK imports a lot of food (or grain/fertilizer etc to make food or oil/petrol to transport food) and it costs a lot more when the pound is worth a third less than it used to be. How much less is the pound worth now in comparison to twelve months ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 There's a BBC blog here, done in march, which tries to explain why the UK has higher food inflation than other countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 What is the level of the pound now as opposed to twelve months ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanishVillan Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 What is the level of the pound now as opposed to twelve months ago? Depends what you measure against. Gold has probably won around 40% in the last 12 months on most (other?) currencies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Yeah but for different reasons in different places. The USA is in a similar boat to us with an undervalued currency. Australia saw a spike after the flooding and cyclone earlier this year wiped out crops in Queensland. Euro countries are doing much better than us as are the Scandinavian ones on food inflation but there was a rise after the drought last summer in Russia. China, India, Russia also experiencing volatile prices. Germany, Italy, France saw inflation jump earlier this year, especially due to food and fuel. France is now looking for action on commodity speculation. And then there's North Africa, with food riots and general upheaval. Food markets generally seem pretty unstable in so many different places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 What is the level of the pound now as opposed to twelve months ago? That would depend on what you are comparing it to? The UK and the US are currently in a race to the bottom regarding devaluing their currencies in order to bring down the cost of their debts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 What is the level of the pound now as opposed to twelve months ago? Depends what you measure against. For the purposes of the comments made above: other currencies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Yeah but for different reasons in different places. The USA is in a similar boat to us with an undervalued currency. Australia saw a spike after the flooding and cyclone earlier this year wiped out crops in Queensland. Euro countries are doing much better than us as are the Scandinavian ones on food inflation but there was a rise after the drought last summer in Russia. China, India, Russia also experiencing volatile prices. Germany, Italy, France saw inflation jump earlier this year, especially due to food and fuel. France is now looking for action on commodity speculation. And then there's North Africa, with food riots and general upheaval. Food markets generally seem pretty unstable in so many different places. Yes, there is volitility all over the place as you'd expect. The inflation in the UK regarding food is higher than comparable european countries though which seems to be best explaned by the currency weakening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 That would depend on what you are comparing it to? It was your claim - what were you comparing it to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 To other currencies from import nations, to the cost of oil imported etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 To other currencies from import nations, to the cost of oil imported etc. And what is the position of the pound now in comparison to twelve months ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanishVillan Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 What is the level of the pound now as opposed to twelve months ago? Depends what you measure against. For the purposes of the comments made above: other currencies. I do consider gold a currency but because of the debate I put it in brackets. It is the best measurement we have when all currencies, only backed by future taxes and confidence, drops at the same time. No VAT on gold in EU also indicates this. Compared to the US$ the pound has won 1.40%. Against the Euro it has lost 0.5% in last 12 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 To other currencies from import nations, to the cost of oil imported etc. And what is the position of the pound now in comparison to twelve months ago? I couldn't tell you the changes for each currency, it would probably be available on the net if someone were to put enough time in to find all the fluctuations over the last year against different countries and different commodities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 I couldn't tell you the changes for each currency... He he. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 I do consider gold a currency but because of the debate I put it in brackets. It is the best measurement we have when all currencies, only backed by future taxes and confidence, drops at the same time. So as some sort of yardstick by which to measure the relative performance and strength of each currency? Compared to the US$ the pound has won 1.40%. Against the Euro it has lost 0.5% in last 12 months. Pretty close to the same level then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanishVillan Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 To other currencies from import nations, to the cost of oil imported etc. And what is the position of the pound now in comparison to twelve months ago? I couldn't tell you the changes for each currency, it would probably be available on the net if someone were to put enough time in to find all the fluctuations over the last year against different countries and different commodities. To be fair, they are changing all the time. Last monday or tuesday the Swiss franc lost 7%. Last wednesday the Euro had won over 8% against the dollar across last 12 months. Right now it is less than 2%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J.Rimmer Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 I'm currently in London as my father and maternal grandmother, both lifelong Villa fans, are very ill. Fortunately I live abroad, and in recent years my local currency has more than doubled against both sterling and the dollar. I'm sometimes shocked to see how much prices here have risen, but in truth it makes no diffence to me. I can exist here very happily on overseas credit cards. However one cuts it, Britain will never become a great resource exporter. We are too small. The fallacy that we can make money through financial services has already been exposed. We may as well send chain letters. Whether we like it or not, we have to make stuff which other people want to buy. I'm no engineer or industrialist so I have no idea what to suggest... this has to be left to the market. But the market will never function properly, whilst government messes and fiddles with the control levers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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