UK’s “Chicken King” Warns: The Era Of Cheap Food Is Over

At least someone is honest when it comes to soaring food inflation: 

“Food is too cheap,” Ranjit Boparan, who is known as the “Chicken King” in the UK, was quoted by Reuters 

“In relative terms, a chicken today is cheaper to buy than it was 20 years ago. How can it be right that a whole chicken costs less than a pint of beer? You’re looking at a different world from now on where the shopper pays more,” Boparan said, who produces 33% of all poultry products in the country. 

“The days when you could feed a family of four with an STG3 ($A5.55) chicken are coming to an end,” he said, adding that the twin crises of Brexit and COVID are pushing prices higher amid snarled supply chains in the world’s fifth-largest economy. The shortage of truckers to butchers to warehouse workers has exacerbated supply chain pressure. An energy crisis and power crunch have disrupted the food supply chain and added additional inflationary pressures. 

He outlined how labor shortages would pressure wage inflation higher that would force him to automate:

“Less labor means less choice, core ranges, empty shelves, and wage inflation, and this isn’t going to change,” he said.

“Right now, I need to be honest about what this means for the consumer as inflation could reach double digits.”

A winter of discontent could be nearing for millions of Brits as soaring food, energy, and power prices hamper the country’s economic recovery.