Food for thought as prices soar

Beer could reach £4 a pint this year as families are hit by a string of soaring price rises for staples such as bread, cheese and even chocolate and the traditional cup of tea.

Rising production costs are to blame, said the British Beer and Pub Association, which claimed a £4 charge for pint expected to be introduced in London later this year could soon spread to drinking spots across the UK. Problems are mainly due to the soaring wholesale costs of grain, energy and petrol making production more expensive, the group said.

BBPA director of communications Mark Hastings warned: "The average price of a pint in London is now round about £3.80.

"What we are saying is that in the course of this year there will be a series of price rises which will take prices above the £4 point.

"And in other parts of the country the £4 pint will become a feature on the landscape."

His comments followed brewer Scottish & Newcastle's announcement of an eight per cent fall in UK profits during 2007 and a prediction costs of making brands such as John Smith's, Kronenbourg and Foster's would rise 8.5 per cent this year.

Meanwhile shortages of tea from Kenya – hit by tribal violence and a late rainy season – are set to push prices up by 25 per cent. If that continues, prices on supermarket shelves will be bound to rise.

The Express & Star revealed yesterday that Birmingham-based chocolate giant Cadbury expects the price of many of its favourite brands to rise by six per cent this year because of higher dairy and coca prices, the latter due to a failed crop in West Africa.

The dairy boom – driven by increasing demand from developing countries like China – has already seen the price of a pint soar to more than 40p and yesterday pizza delivery firm Domino revealed it had been hit by a 50 per cent increase in the cost of cheese and rising price of wheat used to make its pizza bases. Domino's menu prices have been upped by around four per cent since last November as mozzarella hit £1,000 a tonne.

The increasing demand for a Western-style diet in developing countries is a major factor in the soaring price of food, said Alistair Darby, managing director of Marstons' Beer Company.