Look! It’s Halley’s Comet!

Oh, no. It isn't. It's food prices heading for the moon. The Telegraph reports that food prices in Britain are screaming toward the stratosphere at a rate not seen in the past 14 years. The reason? Grain shortages and high fuel costs.

Increased wheat, dairy, meat and vegetable prices mean food factories are having to pay six per cent more for their raw ingredients than a year ago – the highest annual rate since 1993, said the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

The surging costs will be passed on to consumers, who are experiencing the highest food bills for years and could end up paying almost £1,000 extra on their annual food bill than a year ago.

Families are already struggling to cope with the effects of the credit crunch. Petrol prices exceed £1 for a litre of unleaded fuel, while mortgage payments and credit card fees are also rising.

Now the price of groceries is increasing as weekly staples shoot up in price in supermarkets. The cost of a pint of milk has reached an all-time high of 33½p and sliced bread costs a record £1.20 in big stores, a far cry from the 9p loaf that was available 15 years ago.

The company that makes Hovis said yesterday that it was raising prices by a further 4p a loaf, on top of the 12p by which they had risen in recent months, as it attempts to recover soaring wheat costs.

What is not mentioned in the article is the diversion of food into fuel production. That has a serious negative impact on the global food supply. While the west may pay higher prices at the market, the third world is going to pay a more personal cost. We'll shell out a few more dollars, pounds or euros, grumble and go home.

They will have to bury their higher price.