After a retail analyst released a new inflation data on Wednesday, a retail analyst warned that high food prices are now embedded in the economy.
Last year, the price of eggs rose 11 %, and the cost of edible oil rose 7 %; the price of lambs rose 17 %, and shoppers paid about 6 % for fruits and vegetables. Beer prices rose 4 %.
According to data from the Australian Statistics Bureau, even if the inflation pressure is the most serious, the rise in food and beverage prices still exceed the long -term average. According to the Australian Statistics Data Bureau data, the vision is small.
Rabobank's senior food retail analyst Michael Harvey said that higher food costs are falling into the economy, which will become people's "persistent" reality.
"We can't see a wave of rising prices, but there are no signs of decrease; there is not much pressure to drop." Harvey said.
"The cost of life pressure is not new, and is in progress. As far as the purchase decision is concerned, consumers will need to continue to respond to high food prices."
According to ABS annual data released on Wednesday, the Australian consumer price index fell to 2.4 % in December, prompting the federal government to announce that "the worst challenge in the inflation challenge is our backwardness."
However, there are still market pockets that become much more expensive.
The food category increased by 3 % in 2024, although the increase was not uniform. Although the price of dairy products has fallen slightly, the price of edible oil has continued to soar, with a total of 40 % in the past few years.
Some food prices are affected by specific problems. For example, the effect of bird flu on eggs, which has prompted supermarkets to apply for purchase restrictions.
Due to the production problems in West Africa, the price of cocoa rose, resulting in rising candy prices. The price of Lambs soared last year, but after falling in 2023, the basis of this increased was reduced.
Harvey said that due to increasing investment in fuel, fertilizers and wages, prices have risen because production costs have increased because production costs have risen. Manufacturers also have higher packaging and distribution costs.
He said: "Food companies have transferred these high costs to consumers." "This is also the recovery of profit, but it reflects the fact that things are still expensive."
Many food manufacturers and supermarkets use the inflation period to recover or even expand their profit margins, especially in the limited competition industry, such as the supermarket industry that is closely owned by Australia.
Rabobank analysis shows that the rate of rising food prices in the year still exceeds 10 years.
Ronni Kahn, the founder of the Food Rescue Organization Ozharves, said that even people with a job and mortgage loan have turned to the organization because they can no longer bear the burden of buying a necessity for life.
She said: "For us, this is a new crowd."
"We are seeing a nurse, and we are watching the teacher. The people we see have a job and cannot maintain their livelihood.
"State and federal governments definitely need to recognize the crisis of unsafe food. They must increase funds for food relief organizations like us so that we can help support more people."
Kahn said that the demand for fresh agricultural products is very high because it becomes so expensive and it is difficult to obtain eggs.
"We may just put the eggs in four or six small cartons and try to match the needs. But again, of course, we have no eggs every day."