THE price Islanders pay for cigarettes and alcohol has gone up significantly since last year according to the latest survey by the Statistics Unit.
The Comparison of Consumer Prices survey released today also shows that food prices have increased by 13 per cent this year although the actual rise after GST is ten per cent – the same rise as in the UK.
A packet of 20 cigarettes in the Island is 82 per cent more expensive than the same packet in the UK before taxes are added. The UK price is £1.13 while the Jersey price is £2.06. And the pre-tax cost of a pint of lager in Jersey is £2.41, compared to £1.93 in the UK – showing a 25 per cent difference. The report states that alcohol and tobacco prices have risen more in Jersey and Guernsey than the UK because of rising import costs and duties since June 2000.
Motoring costs have also rocketed in the past eight years for Islanders, who are paying a third more than they used to. The average price of unleaded petrol in Jersey, before taxes, is 65 pence a litre compared to 48 pence a litre in the UK which is a difference of 37 per cent. Diesel is just as expensive as fuel standing at a 33 per cent higher price in Jersey than the UK. Islanders are paying 78 pence before tax, while the fuel is 59 pence a litre in the UK.
Article posted on 3rd September, 2008 - 2.59pm
14 Article Comments
this doesn’t suprise me in the least.. its a rip off island charging its residents for its mistakes!
This is a meaningless statistic because Jersey food was almost always significantly more expensive than the UK to start with.
If bread was 100% more expensive in 2007, now it’s 113% more expensive. That’s nothing for our politicians to be smug about.
When will the protectionists let us have another supermarket - there are no ‘local’ shops left to worry about but lots of struggling local people.
When fair play tackled the VAT issue they went out and attacked the local shops for charging VAT but never tryed to tackle the large UK shops in Jersey. Food is already high and in one High street shop they charge UK prices+GST+5%. Now it does not take a Bart Simpson to work out that adds up to 25.5% extra on top of the tax free price the food should be(UK price includes VAT 17.5%). Until the people of Jersey vote with their feet then the UK stores will continue to profit.
….. at least checkers have reduced thier Strawberrys back to around £2.40 rather that the £4.40 or so they were charging a few months ago.
Strip out GST and then compare Jersey to the UK? Too difficult a question; a test of integrity for our Council of Ministers?
soon we will be able to order products from the uk and have them delivered to our door or a convnient pick up point in town.
asda has begun delivering to some small scottish islands so i don’t see why they shouldn’t consider jersey soon. i think it’s just the different laws that stop them now.
Another month passes without us being any nearer to having a third supermarket operator.
The Chamber of Commerce are adamant that we do not require an additional operator, but they would say that to protect their members.
How much longer will the Jersey public have to put up with high prices?
Brining over more supermarkets is not the answer, it will only make things worse.
what rubbish that is expensive too import beer a and cigs,a day trip to france would suffice!!
Statistics are informative, but when will something be done to bring the prices DOWN ?
the reason is ,there are too many people in the Island that are stupidly overpaid and they dont care about cost of living !so us workers have to suffer !
I like so many others now do all my clothing shopping online, or get family to bring things over with them from the mainland from places like Primark and Asda. The only reason I still shop for food over here is lack of choice. If I had the option of buying off island for cheaper I would ! We DO need a third food retailer that does not rip us all off. I visited the UK last week and went to Asda for some things, what a difference having them here would make to the working class families who struggle to survive each month!
As the States debates whether to bring in price controls for Condor as HD ferries closes operations, it begs the question why other areas of commerce should come under very close scrutiny. If we had fair pricing, without huge costs from the ferry carriers, then perhaps the age old question of bringing in another supermarket player would be a moot point.
These factors, high cost of carriage, lack of competition and possible price fixing mean that Jersey shoppers will continue to pay far more than they should. Consumer laws on their own are not enough compared to intervention on behalf of the public to stop the rampant overpricing of our daily necessities.
To do otherwise is immoral and a breach of trust by elected officials.
I totally agree with you all out there who know (believe) that Jersey is becoming more and more expensive everyday. Not only is food, alcohol and cigs more expensive - as are electrical goods….
Please follow me on this…recently I decided to buy a new TV - so my natural choice was to go local - at one shop the TV was a certain price, the second shop (about 200 yards from first shop) charged £200 less and yet shop three (no more than 500 yards away from shops one and two) came in at £250 cheaper than shop one - so did I buy from here? NO WAY.
With a little research on the internet, I found the same TV, delivered to Jersey, including GST was £488 cheaper than shop three…this also included the delivery charge.
Internet shopping is definitely the way forward. Even if you do not have access to the internet I am sure you know someone who does - trust me - you will make huge savings…
To date - telephone £50 cheaper, faux leather bean bag - £30 cheaper, TV cabinet £150 cheaper, digial camcorder £160 cheaper…
Need I say more!
GM i have to agree with you. I do like to support the local independant retailers but with price rises and the cost of living going up you have no choice but to buy off island. I went to London primark the other month and purchased about £100 worth of clothes that would last me a life time then went next door to the luggage shop and brought a new suitcase for £20 to bring it all home. Priceless! if i had done that on the Jersey High street then i would be skint now. The States are not bothered about the retailers as they just look after the finance and the 1(k)’s so they are struggling with this GST on top. I mean how does having GST free on goods under £400 been shipped to Jersey help the local retailers?