Brexit Price Rises Now Hit Bananas As Fruit Goes Up For First Time In 5 Years
Brexit’s gone bananas.
29/11/2016 16:04
George Bowden
Reporter at The Huffington Post UK
Supermarkets have issued the first price rise to bananas in five years as post-Brexit vote currency fluctuations reek havoc with the cost of fresh produce.
German discounters Lidl and Aldi have all reportedly increased the cost of a pack of bananas from 68p to 72p - a six percent rise.
While Asda has raised the price of loose bananas to 72 pence per kilo - up from the standard 68p seen at its rivals, according to The Grocer.
Bananas are traded in dollars, Mail Online reported, meaning the 17 percent fall in the value of the pound against the US currency has made the fibre-rich treat more expensive to source.
Aldi said it had increased the cost of a pack of the fruit to 72p but hadn’t increased the cost of its loose varieties.
However industry insiders told the Guardian that the budget supermarket could be hiding a much a bigger price increase as the pack was likely to weigh in at around 700g.
Supermarkets carefully protect everyday purchases like bananas from price rises as these are more keenly noticed by shoppers - and by industry price monitors.
Yet The Grocer found the three stores had tinkered with pricing in some way.
The trade magazine found the increase “reflects growing inflationary pressures on the multiples due to the weak pound, with bananas generally bought in dollars.”
Industry body Banana Link welcomed the higher prices, the group’s Alistair Smith told The Sun: “It’s a step in the right direction but this is far from the sustainable pricing we have called for.”
It comes after Ikea’s UK boss said the firm could not rule out post-Brexit price rises if tumultuous currency rates continued.
Last month supermarket Tesco was engaged in a high-profile stand off with Marmite producer Unilever over the latter’s propsed blanket 10 percent price rise.
And Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coupe was forced to answer claims the supermarket had trimmed the thickness of bacon in a bid to save costs.
