The Australian senate has announced an inquiry into the ongoing price war between the country’s major supermarket chains.The price war, which began around Australia Day (26 January), when Coles dropped the price of milk to A$1 (US$1) a litre. Woolworths Ltd, Aldi and Franklins have quickly followed Coles’ lead. The senate inquiry will consider whether the behaviour of the leading supermarkets’ anti-competitive and whether the price reductions will have a negative impact on dairy... ...Read more »

World food prices surged to a new historic peak in January, for the seventh consecutive month, according to the updated FAO Food Price Index, a commodity basket that regularly tracks monthly changes in global food prices. The Index averaged 231 points in January and was up 3.4 percent from December 2010. This is the highest level (both in real and nominal terms) since FAO started measuring food prices in 1990. Prices of all monitored commodity groups registered strong gains in January, except for... ...Read more »

Supermarket retailer Coles is using its market dominance to destabilise the whole of Australia’s food and grocery supply chain by cutting prices on essential daily items, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) said today. AFGC highlighted that Coles’ “Down, Down” campaign to heavily discount staple foods like bread and dairy products was designed to increase traffic in Coles supermarkets without considering the long-term, flow-on effects to farmers, industry and consumers. AFGC... ...Read more »

Unilever will increase its prices at a more “rapid rate” in 2011 as it continues to look to offset rising commodity costs, concerns over which hit the company’s share price yesterday (3 February). The UK group’s stock closed down 1.1% in London this afternoon despite a 26% increase in annual profits and accelerating underlying sales growth in the fourth quarter of 2010. However, rising commodity costs hit Unilever’s margins in the last three months of the year, which... ...Read more »

Cocoa prices have shot up as the president-elect of major cocoa-exporting nation Cote D’Ivoire announced an export ban amid political struggles in the country. Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner of last November’s presidential election, announced a one-month suspension on exports of cocoa yesterday morning. He said that anyone not adhering to the ban would be considered to be “financing the illegitimate regime” of Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent Ivory Coast... ...Read more »

Fonterra announced today that it will increase its farmgate milk pirices for Victorian and Tasmanian farmer suppliers after a pricing review. The company will now offer farmers a further 8c per kg of fat, and 20c per kg of protein (13c per kg of milk solids). Fonterra’s National Milk Services Manager, Heather Stacy, said the increase reflects conditions in global dairy commodity markets where prices have held and then strengthened during December and January. “Whole milk powder is now trading... ...Read more »

The EU has issued data it claims will play down fears that the abolition of milk production quotas in 2015 could flood markets with cheap milk and drive some producers to the wall.In a food commodity forecast to 2020 released yesterday, (13 January), the Commission concludes said the end of quotas was projected to have a “limited impact on milk deliveries at the aggregate EU level”. It said milk production should actually remain below the last 2015 quota cap, with production falls caused... ...Read more »

Global food prices last month reached the highest since records began, exceeding the 2008 highs that sparked riots across the globe, according to figures from the UN. An index of food commodities tracked by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) rose for a sixth straight month to 215 points, above the previous high of 213.5 in June 2008, the agency said in a monthly report. Sugar prices are at their highest in ten years, reaching 182 points and climbing for a third year in a row.... ...Read more »

The disastrous floods in Queensland may cause up to $403m in damage to crops, according to the latest forecasts.  This could cause fruit and vegetable prices to rise by up to 50 per cent. Affected farmers report that both summer and winter crops have been destroyed, with many hectares of freshly planted grain, vegetable and fruit crops under water. The damage is expected to increase the cost of groceries such as melons, tomatoes, mangoes, and bananas from today. Farming lobby group AgForce estimates... ...Read more »

Coles is cutting the price of its free range eggs in a bid to help more customers afford the switch away from caged eggs. Prices on Coles Brand free range eggs will fall in all States from today with cuts of at least 18%. Coles also announced that it will phase out Coles Brand caged eggs by 2013. The move follows a clear message from customers that they want to buy free range eggs instead of caged eggs but are prevented from doing so because of the cost. Latest research shows that 95% of Coles customers... ...Read more »