Stark Warning: Get Used To Higher Food Bills

As Britons face Christmas shortages, top boss delivers wake-up call

- Giles Sheldrick Chief Reporter

Shoppers were given a sharp wake-up call yesterday over soaring food prices.

Heinz boss Miguel Patricio warned the cost of essentials would rise and consumers would just “have to get used to it”.

In another bombshell, families were warned that if the crisis continues, prices could soar up to 10 per cent in a worst-case scenario. Kraft Heinz chief executive Mr Patricio said: “We are raising prices, where necessary, around the world.”

Experts say people will have to find hundreds of pounds to limp through winter, following a perfect storm of supply issues and rising energy costs.

By the end of the year, a typical family of four could be £1,800 worse off, the Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates.

Mr Patricio said higher food prices were here to stay because the world’s population is rising, but the amount of land on which to grow food is not.

But he also said firms would have to absorb some of the cost rises adding: “I think it’s up to us and to the industry and to the other companies to try to minimise these price increases.” He said flashpoints contributing to the rising cost of food were “specifically in the UK, the lack of truck drivers”.

He added: “In [the] US logistic costs also increased substantially, and there’s a shortage of labour in certain areas of the economy”.

Mr Patricio said in the longer term, technology would help farmers and not all cost increases should be passed on to shoppers.

Prices of staples including ketchup, cooking oil, cereals and drinks are set to soar. If the cost of a £1 loaf rises by 10p, then bread inflation is 10 per cent.