treefingers

Not really telling us anything we didn't know

http://www.news.com.au/business/mone...017313,00.html

jad n rich

Saw that on telly this morning, food costs in OZ risen more than anywhere in the developed world, reason - lack of competition.

Gave me a laugh, cause I can remember a couple of years back if you said food was expensive on BE you would cause the aussie defence squad to come out in riot gear, not to mention tales of how familes could be fed on tuppence a week

Vash the Stampede

In other news, scientists have discovered that water is wet.

Catch

your quite wrong there,i feed 9 children on $20 dollars a week when i get them back from social services i intend to make a few cuts and spend $18 dollars a week.

Wol

Mrs Wol was saying only the other day that she reckoned the cost of groceries has gone up by around 20% in a couple of years.

Luckily we grow all our own veg - and get to eat some that is left after the possums and snails have had their fill.....

WillBlack

No, you did not interpret what you read correctly.

The article said that grocery prices had increased slightly faster in Australia than certain other countries; not that grocery prices are higher in Australia or even that "supermarkets are expensive".

When I compare the prices I pay in Australia at WoolWorths with Tescos:
http://www.tesco.com/todayattesco/pricecheck.shtml
I find my basket cheaper in Australia, using similar quality items and current exchange rates.

I think the correct interpretation is that Australian prices started lower and have remained lower, at least for my basket of goods, and that price inflation, including wage inflation, has been slightly faster in Australia.

It seems to me that these articles aimed at the hard of reading are appearing more often on News.com.au with the intention not to inform but to infame so as to attract ill informed responses so as to further inflame etc. The real intention, unsurprisingly, is to increase clicks on adverts; possibly the inflamed are more accident prone when it comes to advert clicking.

IndieG

Unfortunately for me since I don't drive I have to shop in the neighbourhood supermarket - Safeway. I don't know what to compare with so I can't say whether Safeway is more expensive than others. I also get all my Indian foodstuff ordered online and groceries home delivered.

lickylady

I did an online shop at tesco with the exact same products I bought from Coles and it is 31% more expensive to shop at Coles. Thats not including all the extra BOGOFs you get at Tesco.

Wol

Don't forget the effect of the exchange rate - a year ago it might have been only 15% more expensive.

BadgeIsBack

There was one poster who seemed to feed a family on not much and there were people puzzled. Doesn't necessarily mean they were disagreeing though (!)

Most people say groceries are expensive now. It's annoying when people use FX rates - it's quite hard to get a real comparison other than what proportion of your salary goes on your basket.

Good to see that it's official!

Petals

Why they wasted money looking into it they only had to ask and we could have told them The price rises have been unbelievable. We have Safeway and Coles near to one another and I go in one and specials and then the other same specials. No difference. We are waiting for our Aldi Store to be built and I think the more the merrier only way to take the big two on.

markbhx

Did you add the postage to that :-D

markbhx

If only Tesco would come and compete in the Aussie market, we would all be saved and Woolworths and Coles would have to sort themselves out.

Its a shame that the big boys from other countries do not take on the aussie market. I think the government makes it too hard for foreign companies to come here to protect home grown brands. Who suffers? Us!!

moneypenny20

Generally because a few years back it was relatively cheap. As it is now if you don't use supermarkets for most of the food shopping.

ABCDiamond

It has been known that Supermarkets have been much more expensive than other shops in Australia for many years.

There was a report a year or so ago that said you could save about 40% by avoiding the supermarkets.

However, just comparing a couple of basics at TESCO and Woolworths.

UK Tesco's
OL PASTURIZED MILK 2L £1.18
OL BUDGET SLICED WHITE BREAD 800G £0.47

Australia Woolworths
Homebrand Milk Whole 2L $2.17
Homebrand Bread White Sandwich 700g $1.09 ($0.16/100g)

That's £1.65 at Tesco and $3.26 at Woolworths.
At current FX rates that means that UK is cheaper, but at 2.2 FX rate, then Australia will be cheaper.

At an FX rate of 1.97 they would be the same price.... but...

What can a person buy with the average wage ?

Based on April/May 2008 wages, the last time I compared both at the same time, one weeks average wages would buy:
UK: 290 loaves of bread and 290 x 2 litre bottles milk
Australia: 362 loaves of bread and 290 x 2 litre bottles milk

Therefore, If you live on Bread and Milk alone, then Australia is cheaper...

It would be interesting to do this on a larger sample of products... very interesting.