Breakfast becoming costly for Brits – Bloomberg

Prices for staples such as milk, eggs, butter, and bread have nearly doubled, data indicates

English breakfast has become almost 20% more expensive, as the cost of basic ingredients surges sharply amid the highest inflation in more than 40 years, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. 

According to the outlet’s monthly Breakfast Index, milk prices in Britain soared by 51% and butter jumped by 31%, pushing less well-off families to the brink of food poverty.

The index analyzes data from Britain’s Office for National Statistics on staple foods that are traditionally used for making an English breakfast – eggs, milk, sausage, bacon, bread, butter, tomatoes, mushrooms, tea, and coffee. The measure shows how spiraling inflation is hitting thousands of households which are struggling to pay for basic products.

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“Supermarkets have been forced to pass on input cost price increases to already hard-pressed customers,” the industry leader for consumer markets at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Lisa Hooker, said, adding that there have been particularly large increases in the price of bread.

The average price of a full English breakfast has surged by 19.5% from one year ago – £32.98 ($39.23) compared with £28.42 ($33.73) – Bloomberg reported, citing the latest ONS data.

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