Food price rises

 

Food prices (along with just about everything else - petrol, VAT etc) are rising. Fruit figures in most families' weekly food shops, as we all attempt, with varying degrees of success, to get the recommended 'five a day' into our children. But have you noticed that you're not getting quite as much bang for your buck when buying fruit - especially apples and pears - these days?

For those Mumsnetters who like to crunch numbers (as well as Cox's Orange Pippins) we've got some detailed stats and graphs about fruit prices over the past ten years. 

A decade ago, the 'key' fruits were roughly 100p (£1) a kilo. Now apples and pears cost between 170p and 190p a kilo. There are all sorts of factors affecting food prices (economics, climate, demand) but the rising prices might reflect an upward drift in the quality and range of apples and pears available - a banana is a banana, after all - while most supermarkets offer different varieties of apples, some of which are more expensive.

 

 

But if apples are a family favourite, don't despair. Although eating apples are getting more expensive, the price of cooking apples, which can be used in desserts like apple crumble or apple pie, has stayed the same.

 

 

 

Fruit prices are also affected by the seasons - grapes, curiously, rise in June and again before Christmas. Pears also have a 'summer' price, but nothing compared to the wildly fluctuating prices of grapes, ranging from less than £3 for a kilo to over £4 a kilo in a single year. 

 

Average retail prices of selected items, UK from Timetric

There's only one thing for it: persuade your children to scoff bananas, because they, at least, seem to be getting cheaper. The ONS estimates the cost of bananas ranges from about 70p to £1.30 a kilo, averaging around 86p in November 2010.

These graphs were compiled using data gathered by price collectors who visit hundreds of shops around the country every month. These official prices feed into the government's monthly inflation figures.