Cost of groceries has increased due to the weaker pound following Brexit
The trend is one aspect of the wider economic uncertainty which followed the vote to leave the European Union
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Your support makes all the difference.The price of pasta and other groceries has increased since the vote to leave the European Union, new data has shown.
The hikes are because of a weaker pound, which has made imported products - which the UK is highly dependent on - more expensive.
Price comparison website mysupermarket.co.uk, which compares all major UK stores, found the price of a shop rose by one per cent in July. In June, the price of 35 products was £82.83. However, following the Brexit vote, the same items cost £83.44.
In particular, pasta was ten per cent more expensive in July, and pasta sauce cost six per cent more. The price of onions had gone up by nine per cent.
The pound has tumbled by ten per cent since the referendum on June 23 and in July and is set to slide another six per cent, according to a Reuters poll.
But higher food prices are not unprecedented. In June, the National Farmers Union (NFU) warned of the possibility.
“Sadly, we only produce 60 per cent of the food we consume,” Meurig Raymond, president of the NFU told the Guardian.
“We’ve seen our self-sufficiency fall dramatically, so we are very dependent on imported food.
“A weaker pound will mean higher imported food value. I would say to government … [it] could easily be held to ransom by other parts of the world if there is a climatic disaster or if currency is weak.”
Brexit was bad for farmers in other ways. Mr Raymond pointed out that European Union subsidies for British farmers amount to £2.4bn - £3bn a year, depending on exchange rates, and help keep the sector afloat.
“The average income of a farmer was just over £20,000 in 2014, and 55 per cent of that was EU money, so that’s how important that money is,” said Mr Raymond said.
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