The Commonwealth bank says food prices are going up nearly twice as fast as in the last quarter in December 2021.The Commonwealth bank says food prices are going up nearly twice as fast as in the last quarter in December 2021.Last modified on Tue 26 Apr 2022 18.32 BST
His family has run the Hampton Fruit Centre, an institution in Melbourne’s Bayside suburb, for six decades. Todarello blames wild weather for pushing up the cost of produce at a pace rarely seen before. “We’ve never sold beans that expensive,” Todarello said. “By the time we buy, transport them here and [add the cost of] the labour, the cost is probably $17 a kilo, so there’s not much margin really at all. It’s pretty hard at the moment for everyone.”
The Commonwealth bank predicts food prices alone will have nearly doubled the pace of increases in the first three months of 2022 from the December quarter rising 1.3%. Petrol prices, which spiked with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rose almost 10% in the quarter and remain elevated, even with the 22.1 cents a litre temporary cut in the fuel excise.