Australia shoppers stunned by prices as inflation surges

Social media posts about food prices lay bare consumers’ increasing struggles

- Jonathan Pearlman

SYDNEY – A shopper in a Melbourne supermarket recently bought a packet of his favourite chips and was stunned by the price tag of A$7.60 (S$7.07) – 71 per cent higher than only two years ago.

In a country whose residents are still in a collective state of shock at the fast-rising prices of everyday items, the shopper posted an image of the item and its price on social media. The post prompted a flurry of anger, including demands to boycott the supermarket and the brand of chips.

“This is robbery,” said one comment on the Reddit website.

“Are they gold-plated?” said another.

The outrage against the everyday impact of Australia’s soaring inflation rate is not surprising.

In 2020, three staple food items – a tub of butter, a packet of sliced cheese (24 slices) and a kilogram of lamb – at supermarket chain Coles would have cost A$27.50 in total. Today, the same items go for A$37.20, an increase of 35 per cent.

Australia’s annual inflation rate has been steadily increasing for a year and reached 7.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2022, the highest level since 1990. Some of the steepest rises have been for essentials such as food, electricity and rent.