How much fonio does your family get through in a week and how much will the reduction in price help you?

[noblegiraffe]

The govt have released a list of 125 "everyday essentials" that they plan to cut tax on to help families with the cost of living.

It's a bit of a weird list. Beans, biscuits and chocolate yes, a bit more baffled by the fresh figs, gherkins and plantains. And I had to google fonio.

Aubergines
Avocados
Baked beans
Bananas (fresh and dried)
Biscuits
Boiled sweets
Bread
Buckwheat
Candied fruit
Chewing gum
Chocolate (bulk and retail)
Chocolate bars
Chocolate drink preparations
Chocolate spreads
Chocolate with fruit, nuts or cereal
Citrus fruits (various)
Cocoa paste
Cocoa powder
Couscous
Crispbread
Crisps
Dried apples
Dried apricots
Dried figs
Dried papaya
Dried peaches/nectarines
Dried pears
Fonio
Fresh figs
Frozen fruits
Garlic
Gherkins
Gingerbread
Green tea
Jams and marmalades
Limes
Liquorice products
Margarine
Marzipan and pastes
Mixed dried fruit
Mixed fats and oils
Mixed fruit and nuts
Mixed nuts
Mixed preserved fruit and nuts
Non-alcoholic beverages
Olive oil (extra virgin)
Olive oil (other)
Olive oil (virgin)
Olives (for oil production)
Olives (fresh/chilled)
Olives (frozen)
Other fresh fruits
Other peppers (capsicum/pimenta)
Pickled peppers
Pizzas and quiches
Plant-based drinks
Plantains (fresh and dried)
Prepared vegetables
Preserved beans
Preserved citrus fruits
Preserved tropical fruit
Preserved vegetables
Processed potatoes
Quinoa
Rusks
Soups and broths
Sugar confectionery
Sugar tablets
Sweet peppers
Throat pastilles
Toasted bread products
Toffees and caramels
Tomato ketchup
Tomato sauces
Vegetable oils
Waffles and wafers

This is great news for us - a lot of things my kids have on that list.

That really is a strange list. I had to google Fonio. Who eats this in the UK?. It's eaten a lot in the Sahel, due to it being able to grow in very hot dry climates. I know we've had some hot weather but we are not quite at that stage yet!!

I guess tariffs are applied to groups of foods, not individual products, so there will be a range of individual food products included in the change? There's no VAT or sugar tax on fresh food so it must be a tariff type thing,

I’ve never even heard of Fonio.

It’s also nearly 5% olives / olive based which puzzles me…!

Where's milk? Cheese/butter/yoghurt?

Its a bit like rationing with some naice middle class items thrown in.

I haven't googled fonio and have no idea?

I dont even recall ever buying boiled sweets, my GM did, in those travel tins with a dusting of icing sugar to stop them sticking. Same with throat pastilles - are they a common item? Lockets were a phase in school in the 90s.

Lots of weird categories too, why not just Fruit instead of Other fruit while including Bananas at the top of the list

I only clicked on the thread to see what fonio was a typo for!
I've never heard of it either and I love trying new and unusual foods.

They are already zero rated for VAT.

So these will be cheaper? What policy is this from?

Biscuits
Boiled sweets
Candied fruit
Chewing gum
Chocolate (bulk and retail)
Chocolate bars
Chocolate drink preparations
Chocolate spreads
Chocolate with fruit, nuts or cereal

That’s just one section ^^

I have some fonio in the cupboard but don’t eat it often. This is about tariffs, not taxes (a lot of the food on the list is zero rated for vat eg fruit and veg). So obviously it’s about imported foods.

But unfortunately for the govt are the things that people would actually like to see a price reduction in.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/rachel-reeves-cost-of-living-price-cuts-5HjdZgT_2/

What is cocoa paste, and what is a sugar tablet? (but I'm willing to support any government that thinks that gingerbread is a staple food!)

CAn you post a link please @noblegiraffe ? Because I thought this must be for VAT but an awful lot of items on that list are already zero-rated for VAT. So is this actually about import duties?

Ah, I see you've posted, and it's about import tariffs. Hence why some of the items on the list seem a bit odd - because they are imported by food manufacturers rather than bought by end customers.

You dont think there are people of African descent in the UK?

I'm going through the list that has been posted and trying to make sense of it and how it is supposed to help or the reasoning behind it.

I completely agree with where are the dairy products, but they may not be taxed currently (need to check).

I understand fruit and veg are staples, but in an obesity crisis there are some very strange inclusions. Especially all the sweets, as nobody needs them, and I am worried that we are discounting all the sugar-laden drinks too.

Boiled sweets
Candied fruit
Chewing gum
Cocoa paste
Cocoa powder
Fonio
Gherkins
Green tea
Liquorice products
Marzipan and pastes
Non-alcoholic beverages
Preserved beans
Preserved citrus fruits
Preserved tropical fruit
Preserved vegetables
Sugar confectionery
Sugar tablets
Throat pastilles
Toffees and caramels

I'll be delighted if olive oil goes down in price. Its ridiculously pricy just even for the basic non virgin kind.

Olive oil would be nice.
Wouldn't notice much of the rest or on folio.

Import tariffs not tax.

Cheaper fruit & veg is always a good idea. Personally I look forward to the cheaper chocolate, liquorice, and dried papaya.

I get the impression that some posters think it's not part of their cultural diet, therefore it shouldn't be on the list? I'm from a high liquorice consumption country (both as sweets and in plant root form), so its inclusion does make a difference to me.

Just seen the link, it is the usual government misinformation that is being spread. This is what they say they will reduce import tariffs on, and not what they will ensure are cheaper for those struggling in the CoL crisis.

I'm a bit confused by the olive oil. Surely the vast majority of the olive oil consumed in the UK comes from the EU (Spain and Italy in particular) and therefore there is no import duty on it anyway, under the EU-UK free trade deal?

On Pointless, there was a round once on top olive exporting countries and here were lots of them so I guess some of it comes from eg Morocco?

Fonio is gluten-free. I might get some!

But will these reductions in food prices be cancelled out by the upcoming 13% rise in the fuel price cap?