{"id":766,"date":"2022-07-28T09:53:50","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T08:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/food-system-equality\/?p=766"},"modified":"2022-08-02T15:54:35","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T14:54:35","slug":"an-industry-perspective-on-the-current-uk-economic-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/food-systems-equality\/an-industry-perspective-on-the-current-uk-economic-climate\/","title":{"rendered":"An industry perspective on the current UK economic climate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The current economic climate from both an industry and consumer perspective <\/span>is<\/span> dire.<\/span> The news is full of <\/span>statistics detailing that inflation is at a <\/span>30-year<\/span> high<\/span> while still being on the<\/span> rise. C<\/span>onsumers are more aware than ever of the rising cost of living<\/span>, <\/span>including food<\/span>, energy bills and fuel<\/span>.<\/span> The food industry also <\/span>must<\/span> deal with these increased costs <\/span>across <\/span>its<\/span> operations<\/span> as it looks to power <\/span>its factories<\/span>, <\/span>procure<\/span> its raw <\/span>materials,<\/span> and ensure products can make it to consumers<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span> The food industry along with <\/span>retailers<\/span>,<\/span> will have to face<\/span> the difficult <\/span>decision<\/span> on what costs can be absorbed into the business<\/span> and what costs consumers will eventually end up paying for<\/span>,<\/span> creating the perfect storm<\/span> for the rising cost of food<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Asda<\/span>\u2019s <\/span>chairman<\/span> spoke about <\/span>consumers start<\/span>ing<\/span> to put<\/span> thirty-pound<\/span> limits on shops to reduce costs<\/span>. For industry<\/span>,<\/span> this <\/span>highlights<\/span> that consumer buying patterns could shift quickly<\/span>.<\/span> We could <\/span>start<\/span> to see a <\/span>repetition of consumer behaviour that was expressed in the pandemic<\/span>; <\/span>with consumers moving towa<\/span>rds well known and loved brands<\/span> or consumers <\/span>shifting<\/span> towards discounters and own label products<\/span> depending on category and <\/span>consumer relationship with the product<\/span>. Will consumers start to cut back on out of house spending, meaning less meals out and reduced on-the-go snacking? This could see food trends that had started to filter out after the pandemic come back with full force as people once again turn to at home enjoyment to save the<\/span> expense of out of home entertainment <\/span>and food service<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The food industry is also currently dealing with shortages<\/span> and huge price rises<\/span> of key raw materials<\/span> like wheat and <\/span>sunflower oil. <\/span>Both<\/span> examples have been affected by the war<\/span> in Ukrain<\/span>e<\/span>,<\/span> as <\/span>the country <\/span>accounts for 10% of the world\u2019s wheat market and over 50% of world trade in sunflower oil<\/span>. While the<\/span>re are stocks of these materials <\/span>available,<\/span> they are a commodity <\/span>that is threatened and so <\/span>while food security <\/span>isn\u2019t<\/span> an immediate <\/span>reality<\/span>,<\/span> the<\/span> price throughout the<\/span> food<\/span> supply chain <\/span>has seen a quick and high rise <\/span>in these materials. <\/span>At times like <\/span>this, industry<\/span> might have to start looking at other alte<\/span>rnatives to these<\/span> key<\/span> functional<\/span> ingredients<\/span> with agile reformulation <\/span>in order to<\/span> meet <\/span>supply demands and keep price points at a <\/span>place consumers<\/span> can<\/span> afford<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In reality <\/span>as<\/span> we look towards the future along with the rest of our living essentials<\/span>,<\/span> the cost of food is going to go up<\/span>,<\/span> as the <\/span>B<\/span>ank of England has warned tha<\/span>t inflation could continue to <\/span>rise up<\/span> to eleven percent by autumn.<\/span> This will affect consumer shopping habits, raw material <\/span>cost<\/span>,<\/span> availability <\/span>to businesses <\/span>and day to day costs<\/span> of both industry and consumers<\/span>.<\/span> The food industry will react <\/span>to these <\/span>circumstances<\/span> the best they can <\/span>and keep on producing<\/span> and supplying<\/span> some of our most loved<\/span> products.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lauren Pybus, Formulation Technologist, Global R&D, <\/span>Pladis<\/span> (<\/span>FoodSEqual<\/span> industry partner)<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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The current economic climate from both an industry and consumer perspective is dire. The news is full of statistics detailing that inflation is at a 30-year high while still being…Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":523,"featured_media":767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[20,18,21,19],"coauthors":[17],"class_list":["post-766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-news","tag-economy","tag-food","tag-industry","tag-uk"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nAn industry perspective on the current UK economic climate - Food Systems Equality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whitley CDA reflect on the challenges of providing holiday food to local young people during the half-term break. 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