Speciality Food Magazine JulyAugust 2024

6 @specialityfood Food price inflation fell in May for the 14th month in a row, official figures have shown. The rate of inflation of food and soft drinks dropped to 1.7%, down from 2.9% in April, helping drive down headline inflation to its lowest rate in nearly three years. Inflation has now hit the Bank of England’s target of 2% for the first time since 2021. Inflation has been in the spotlight as debates around the cost-of-living crisis heat up. “It’s encouraging to see food and non-alcoholic drink price inflation continue to fall, which is welcome respite for households and important for business recovery,” said Karen Betts, CEO of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF). However, Karen warned that “the resilience of our sector isn’t a given”. “With agricultural commodity prices and energy costs rising once William Tullberg, founder of Tracklements, dies at 91 Champion of the speciality food scene and revolutionary of Britain’s condiment category, William Tullberg, has died at the age of 91. William founded Tracklements in 1970, and during his 35-year career there he was instrumental in forging the business’s innovative approach to condiments – including the invention of wholegrain mustard, a widely appreciated result of following his endless food curiosity. He was a stalwart supporter of specialist retailers, slow food and artisan manufacture, and was passionate about the UK’s food revolution within which he played a major part. Constantly excited by the number of brilliant new artisan food businesses springing up across the UK, Williamwas a passionate and inspiring ‘bon viveur’ who will be sadly missed by the fine food industry. again, parts of the food and drink supply chain remain vulnerable and there’s little slack to cope with the impact of extreme weather events on harvests or further rises in shipping costs,” she continued. Indeed, the decrease in food price inflation wasn’t consistent across all food and drink products. For example, while prices fell for jams and marmalades, whole milk and butter by 6.2%, 5.5% and 4.4%, respectively, olive oil is up by a whopping 39.1%, cocoa and powdered chocolate has risen by 19.5% and sugar is up by 9.8%. People around the country would “breathe a sigh of relief” as the inflation rate fell, said Kris Hamer, director of insight of the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The news raised hopes that the Bank of England would cut interest rates. Lower inflation rates for energy prices, clothing and furniture were WHILE THE FINAL 13% OF SHOPPERS ARE PROVING TOUGH TO WIN OVER, ONLINE SALES ARE NOW SHOWING A CONSISTENT POST-COVID “NEW NORMAL” . E-COMMERCE ACCOUNTED FOR 27.2% OF ALL RETAIL SALES IN MAY AND 87% OF BRITS BOUGHT ONLINE LAST YEAR Following Labour’s landslide election win, the new prime minister has much work to do to transform the food and drink sector in line with the party’s manifesto promises. At the same time, organisations have released their own manifestos to set out their priorities for the new government. Alexander Carnwath, head of public affairs at the Fairtrade Foundation, said it was “crucial” that the new government “builds a fairer and more resilient trade system that works better for both UK consumers and those who produce much of our food in low-income countries.” The Fairtrade Foundation’s 2024 manifesto sets out three key asks. The first is for political leaders to develop trade policy that works for people and the planet. These policies, the charity said, must improve resilience for the smallholder farmers and workers producing food overseas, as well as support innovative business approaches to enhance environmental and social sustainability. Second, it called on the government to ensure responsible business by creating new legislation that ensures businesses address human rights and environmental violations in supply chains, including deforestation, while taking full account of the needs of farmers and workers. And third, the foundation said the UK must strengthen aid by responding to the needs and priorities of the farmers and workers making “crucial contributions” to the global food system. “The UK imports almost half its food, with 16 percent coming from countries exposed to climate change and lacking the capacity to adapt and respond,” Alexander said. While British farmers are rightly urging the government to support the farmers and growers on our own shores to bolster food security, there are undeniably numerous Fairtrade Foundation calls for a ‘resilient’ trade system In its 2024 manifesto, the organisation called on the new government to build fairer and more resilient trading partnerships in the face of a changing climate products that, even when we boost homegrown food production, will need to be imported from abroad – and fine food retailers and producers will be well aware of the impact everything from geopolitical events to climate catastrophes can have on these products’ prices and availability. “In recent years, we’ve seen how global events can have a massive impact on UK food supplies, with the cost of some of our favourite food products soaring and increasingly difficult conditions for farmers overseas – including ingredients like cocoa, sugar, olive oil and many others that are essential to the fine food industry,” Alexander said. He called on the next government to commit to publishing a trade strategy that addresses key links between trade, development and environmental sustainability, setting up objectives across all three. “It [the government] should also address UK competition law to provide support for innovations in the area of pre-competitive collaboration between businesses,” he said, which can be done through initiatives such as Fairtrade’s Shared Impact, to support environmental and development objectives. “We urgently need to invest for the future, building fair and strong trading partnerships, with businesses working for people and planet, that will ensure the ongoing availability of our food in the face of a changing climate.” all welcome news for consumers too, he said. But politicians can’t take this inflationary progress for granted, Kris warned. “Retailers are working hard to limit price increases for their customers, and the next administration must play their part in reducing cost pressures on retailers and the customers they serve,” Kris said. And the UK isn’t out of the woods yet on inflation. Food prices are still a quarter higher than they were at the beginning of 2022, and fine food retailers will still be feeling the pinch when it comes to their energy prices and certain products whose prices remain stubbornly high. What’s more, Jake Finney, economist at PwC UK, warned that if prices continue to rise at the same month-on-month rate that they did this month, headline inflation will be back over the 2% target next month. Inflation hits 2% target