Rise in food prices greater than in UK and Guernsey
Thursday 2nd September 2010, 2:59PM BST.
The price of food has risen by 30 per cent in five years
THE price of food has risen by 30 per cent in Jersey during the past five years – significantly more than in both the UK and Guernsey.
Locally, price increases peaked in 2008 following the introduction of GST, but even since then Islanders have continued to see the cost of food increase faster than in the other two jurisdictions.
In the year to June, bread prices rose in the Island by three per cent, but fell in the UK by two per cent. Also in June, direct comparisons show that meat prices were, on average, about 25 per cent higher in Jersey than in the UK and the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables was almost 33 per cent higher in Jersey.
The figures were released today by the States Statistics Unit.
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Here we go again! The poor old Co-op et el getting got at again. Doesn’t anyone understand how much transport cost are? Yawn . . . !
They have us by the short and curlies and know it. A closed market which they can charge what they like for basic foodstuffs and fob the public off with non relevant arguments.
Any States’ Members want to take up the challenge ? ? ?
Thought not . . .
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Is this because Jersey is that little bit further south from the UK???
Or is because Jersey has GST???
The kidding has to stop. We want answers, real answers!
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this was a certainty when Morrisons left,most of us knew this would happen as they charged exactly the same prices as UK and the other supermarkets had to keep their prices as low or miss out.
The other 2 rubbed their hands in glee when former left and have been raising their prices ever since.
They blame anything from shipping to staff wages for their blatant over-the-top charges.
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I think most of us already new this information we all have to go and buy food on a weekly /daily basis and constantly become disillusioned at the fact that a small basket of basic essentials costs far more than the UK alternatives and the monthly pay packets are finding it harder to stretch the pennies to pay all the bills. The question should not be why because, we all know it is down to the riduculous addition of GST and the greedy shop owners demanding elevated prices, the question should be how are we going to bring in suitable competition that will drive these prices down! Please be mindfull of the fact that although Waitrose is coming to Jersey it is a high end retailer and prices will probably be on a par with M&S which already is a luxuary shop as opposed to a necessary one. Plus retailers always have the excuse that frieght is high so additional prices need to be levied.
Stealth & Double taxation is in everything bought locally and the local shop owners are happy to add extra to the price in order to cover their share!
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This is before the next rise in GST
Come on over Tesco show ‘em how its really done!! thats if you don’t pump up your prices as well & use the old smokescreen of transport charges.
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name and shame those who are ripping us off, you can do without a new flat screen telly or the lastest and greatest mobile phone.
but not food.
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So what are the states going to do about this? Absolutely nothing so why even bother reporting on it in the first place. Jersey as a whole is now an expensive place to live so why would they care that food has gone up 30% – give us normal people a hand and do something instead of just stirring up public hate..!
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Nuova vista # 2. One wonders what prices are like in the Shetland Isles, a little bit north of the U.K. Then there are the Falklands – what are prices of food like there?
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Thank you very much Mr Breckon for confirming what those of us on a very tight budget have known for quite some time now, and struggle every day/week to contend with.
About time the excuses stopped and the REAL reasons (greed), were brought to the fore.
Incidentally, it is now possible to buy a lot of foodstuffs and household items (detergents etc) on line via Amazon, and again cheaper than locally.
Now the pensioners get a measly rise equivalent to a loaf of bread a week! Time for a grey rebellion I think.
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When are we going to have this French supermarket.They did say they could price produce and products 26 % Cheaper in 2005. So why don’t we have a French supermarket-is someone worried about competition!!!
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Genuine Jersey – Cheaper if brought in the UK……
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so mister shifter, why are jersey royals more expensive in jersey than the uk?
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Blue Knight (8) Then there are the – what are prices of food like there?
Fear not the Falkland Islands have a far bigger problem than Jersey; DON’T TAKE THE NEXT BOAT IN THE MORNING FOR THE FALKLAND ISLANDS!
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Is this really something we didn’t know? I could name one whole local industry which buys in its stock VAT free and sells at UK prices, and in some cases above the UK RRP inclusive of VAT. I also know the suppliers, and yes you are being ripped off!
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Nuova vista # 13. Don’t worry I am more than happy at my ancestral home on 30 acre farm, at the edge of a U.K. National Park – I definitely won’t be catching a boat for the Falklands.
I have just come back from my weekly shop at Lidls and paid less than £40…..just right for us pensioners.
Google tells me the Falklands is considerably more expensive than Jersey and as for the Shetlands I looked at :http://www.shetland.gov.uk/policy/documents/SustainingShetland2006.pdf
It says “The average wage level in Shetland is higher than the Scottish average,
although this is not the case for women, whilst the cost of living is
higher, particularly for essential items. This makes it particularly
difficult for those on low income and/or national benefits, whilst uptake
of national benefits is felt to be lower than entitlement.”
It seems there are some similarities with Jersey.
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Blue Knight (8); Being ex jersey and now living in the Shetlands, which is incidentally much further from the mainland than Jersey, I can tell you what the cost of food is. Its cheap! We have Tescos and they charge the same here as they do on the mainland.
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@15 Blue Knight:
Similarities? Yeah, right:
Price of petrol in Shetland – 128.7p/litre
Ditto Jersey – just under £1/litre (and that’s at Five Oaks, which is some way off cheapest).
And where does the oil come ashore? Sullom Voe – in Shetland!
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Extremely shocked and astounded to read that someone with an ancestral home plus 30 acres actually shops at Lidls!
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#8 Blue Knight, it’s a difficult one, because food prices are higher on our island back home too (probably comparable with the Shetlands), but life is so different that it doesn’t matter too much, fuel is far more expensive but you don’t spend because you don’t have as much opportunity to spend. Jersey is an island like mainland Shetland but Lerwick doesn’t mimic a city way of life, like St Helier does. What we spend does come down to both availability and what we see around us, when you live somewhere that there simply isn’t the opportunity to spend, then high prices on the essential items available don’t matter much, even lower wages don’t matter much. You can only spend if there are places to spend and you’d be surprised what stops being essential when you don’t have easy access to it.
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In response to Number 10
Currently in France a 2.5kg sack of Potatoes are 2.45 Euros so comparable to Jersey. French supermarkets are not much cheaper than Jersey with in the past three years huge price hikes Fresh milk 1.27 Euro per litre and so on the ONLY differnce here is choice because we have Aldi and Lidl
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did the public get asked whos supermarket we would like?
other than waitrose, we didnt need another
marks and sparks.
or did the nanny state tell us what we are having?
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Jenny # 18. I have a farm and 30 acres because I sold my £400,000 semi detached home in Jersey and purchased my current property for £295,000. I shop at Lidls as I was always taught to ‘look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’. Anyhow the quality at Lidls is pretty good so I can’t undestand why you’d be shocked…..I am sure Amanda (#20) agrees.
Leah # 19. I was on the Shetlands in the late 70s, working with the Northern Constabulary on a job. It was in late autumn and one thing I remember was the lack of trees – it looked rather desolate. The people were very friendly however and seemd to have few complaints about their way of life.
Mac # 17. Sullom Voe – yes I’ve been there too. I also recall the airport at Tingwell – interesting place; I flew to the Shetlands with Air Ecosse (I can’t recall if they charged extra for my luggage
). I said there were some similarites, but there are also many differences. The prices of fuel may differ but as James Davis ( #16) mentions other every day essentials are cheaper in the Shetlands.
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Ok, so my name is Fred Bloggs and there is a vacant retail establishment in AnyRue
. Can I reopen this shop, call it Fred Bloggs and sell foodsuffs from it once more? Probably yes as it would be a like for like enterprise.
Say my name was “Tesco Express”, I wonder if planning would allow me to open my shop…..
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High time the Govt actually did something for the citizens who put them there and sat on these food prices..some control is desperately required as we are a captive audience..and cannot order food from the internet..we simply are being held to ransom and ripped off blind. come on Breckon and co get us some value some of us are on our knees financially…..
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I suppose the higher in Jersey cost of purchasing / renting land.
Maintaining buildings.
Electricity
Plus
Our higher than average wages.
Delivery costs, not only Condor and HR charges one must also add the cost having a truck and a driver on the boat for 5hrs (include marshalling).
All of these probably go towards the higher costs of basics in Jersey.
I am also sure the lower income tax that leaves most of us with more disposable income helps to compensate.
BUT
The most probable cause is our apathy in just coughing up instead of shopping around for the best prices including the internet.
Petrol is considerably cheaper in some places, how come the others manage to sell any on an island 9 x 5.?
Whats the point in having the likes of Lidle come to Jersey when comments such as Jenny #18, which I am sure, are in jest, but do highlight the stigma in Jersey of not buying from M&S, that for some of our snobs would be insurmountable. Why did Morison’s pack up and go home, they need to sell some of their top end range to subsidise the lower.
Yes we need competition but we also need a population that would take advantage of it. One only has to look at the number of people “taking advantage” of the exorbitant prices at Powerhouse on a Saturday to see saving cash is not a hobby in Jersey.
Whinging about it is.
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Weightrise (as they are named in UK for their yummy food)is a luxury shop and like for like are more expensive than M&S.
You don,t have to be Einstein to work out why Sandpiper choose this company rather than Tesco!
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Alp expat.
That is exactly my point. Consumers in the UK will not pay over inflated prices. Therefore the spuds shipped from here have to be at a competitive price otherwise they wont sell. Here the suppliers know full well there is not any other choice, hence the price disparity. Its called ‘The Jersey Way’ mon vie!
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I know how expensive food is here compared to the UK, and on the national news today, they mentioned how expensive it is in the UK especially that meat has gone up a lot. At least they make it a national news item, so someone will now probably look into how it has risen so much. Who cares in the government over here??? Why don’t someone look into the matter once and for all and help the local people with all these crippling price increases, does anyone in the States care about this?
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Just one word – GREED
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6. David Brown said
‘name and shame those who are ripping us off’.
The JEP would have to devote an entire weeks worth of newspaper coverage just to print this list of retailers and providers of services on the island.
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Here’s a simple example that can be checked out……and makes the head spin when you multiply the example….I kilo bag Muesli from Safeway u,k. 99p….half the size 500g Jersey Coop £1-40p…go figure
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(31)
When in UK I always look at offers at co-op.
last time strawberries UK £2 punnet Jersey £2.60p
Same item,with their own sticker on.
So 3% gst is now 30%
Same with M&S Chicken kiev UK £3.40 Jersey £4.5p even bigger gap.
Laughing all the way to the bank comes to mind!
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I am currently based in Hampshire and shop at ASDA: Jersey Royals 39p per pound, bread from 47p, milk from 25p pint, strawberries/raspberries/blue berries etc, 2 punnets for £3, potatoes, £1 for 2.5kg, Kellogs Cornflakes, 750g £1.14, need I go on. Petrol/deisel may be more expensive, but I get 40% better fuel consumption. Salaries are not that much lower (if at all) for comparible jobs. Beer is cheaper, eating out is cheaper as are many other “luxury” items, what you do not get is the quality of life, the safe environment, the beaches etc, however, not all of the extra costs of basics canbe justified on the cost of property etc., it is businesses charging local people for the priviledge of living in their own island, then filtering the profits away to benefit the shareholders who have absolutely nothing to do with the island. Incidentally, the Coop in the UK is one of the most expensive retailers!!
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Grow all my own vegies, and get my beers from France. My tax rate is 11% off a 90k salary – when I was workign in the UK 2 years ago (en route form NZ), I was eanring 50k with a 28% tax rate.
Yeah – life here is REALLY Tough!
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(34) real truthseeker, at 90 k you 11% tax rate is a joke , i earn less than a third of your ,
pay and pay 10% tax.
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Small Money: Why is it a joke? I pay nearly £10k in tax, and you pay I presume less than £3k. I don’t begrudge you that, but don’t see why you can complain? I spent years studying at university to enable myself to earn this level, and pay my fair share in taxes. In fact everyone should be on the same percentage, then we are fairly contribute our proportion in taxes. I bet you use more in local services than I do, so good value for money for you (ie: hospitals etc.). I have private health insurance, so my use of local services is limited. Hence my value for money when it comes to taxes isn’t fair. BUT I don’t have a problem with that. To say it is a joke is only indicating that I pay too much?
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(34) real truthseeker, you dont have to worry about food prices with that salary and 11% tax, i think we’d all be happy on 90K! I certainly wouldn’t complain, i just wonder how States worked your tax out?? I only earn 33K and pay 17% tax and yes I will be questioning mine!!
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Real Truthseeker #34
90k! 11%!
Please introduce me to your accountant; does he have offices at La Moye?
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Average Earner – simple, with a mortgage, and two children, combined with having paid slightly higher tax last year for previous years salary, my tax rate comes down. If I was single, with no mortgage and no kids, I would be at 20%. Simple.
I always worry about cost increases, as it also affects my family, just differently. For example, I won’t get to travel back to NZ next year, which for the past few years I have been able to take my family there each Jersey winter. I doubt it next year, however people here, relative to the UK, are considerably better off. Many here though like to make out we are hard done by, which we are certainly not, irrespective of the income.
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