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Date Published : Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Consumers across Australia may have to use their credit cards more often to pay for the weekly shop, as a new report has found that raw produce prices are likely to reach record highs during 2008.
According to the Westpac-National Farmers' Federation Commodity Index, global wheat prices rose by 14.9 per cent during December, an increase which will hit supermarkets across the country later this year.
The price of sugar went up 8.7 per cent and barley by 6.1 per cent during the last month of 2007, which will also push up the prices of the majority of everyday goods, news.com.au reports.
This, in turn, could have a major impact on the already fragile nature of personal finance, which has been hit by rising interest rates and falling house prices during the last month.
National Farmers' Federation (NFF) vice-president Charles Burke told the news provider: "Australia's farm sector has demonstrated the ability and willingness to respond to changing consumer preferences, provided consumers recognise that these new expectations will see prices rise.
"This is an inevitable consequence. We all need to understand that new consumer choices impose new production costs."
According to the index, global prices for canola rose by 8.5 per cent; cotton increased by 3.8 per cent and beef went up by 3.9 per cent.
The NFF represents over 1.4 million Australian's who work on farms across the country, largely in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.
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