Increasing cost of importing food

[999house]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38108780

Im not an expert on economics so perhaps some could enlighten me.

First of all, the countries economic fundamentals havnt changed since Brexit, so any fluctuation in price of the pound is purely speculation no?

Secondly, if the price of a box of tomatoes from Holland has increased from 2 pounds to 6 pounds. Is that not an opportunity for UK farmers to enter the market and produce their own? ie a boost for Uk jobs/tax/production?

[John The Pessimist]

49 minutes ago, 999house said:

 

Secondly, if the price of a box of tomatoes from Holland has increased from 2 pounds to 6 pounds. Is that not an opportunity for UK farmers to enter the market and produce their own? ie a boost for Uk jobs/tax/production?

This is where seasonality and storage come in to play. We are about to discover the true cost of eating fruits and vegetables out of season. There could well be an opportunity for traditional storage methods including pickling etc to make a resurgence.

[mattyboy1973]

1 hour ago, 999house said:

Secondly, if the price of a box of tomatoes from Holland has increased from 2 pounds to 6 pounds. Is that not an opportunity for UK farmers to enter the market and produce their own? ie a boost for Uk jobs/tax/production?

It's an opportunity for them to sell their tomatoes internationally for an increased GBP price, or have that price matched within the UK. Why would they sell them locally for less? Obviously a little saving in transport costs etc, but ultimately we all compete internationally now. How many Kenyans are eating the locally produced green beans there, when the farmers can stick them on a plane to the UK and sell them for X times as much?

[winkie]

Quite....if growing potatoes will sell where can get the best price......they want more exporting they will get it, why many of our homes and businesses have already been sold/ exported elsewhere........what is the answer?

[onlooker]

2 hours ago, John The Pessimist said:

This is where seasonality and storage come in to play. We are about to discover the true cost of eating fruits and vegetables out of season. There could well be an opportunity for traditional storage methods including pickling etc to make a resurgence.

An early EU casualty of Brexit is the Irish mushroom industry (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/10/14/irelands-mushroom-farmers-become-early-victims-of-brexit/).

The article says some growers plan to move production to the UK. A win for us.

Personally I think the devaluation of the pound may have been triggered by Brexit, but was more likely to have been due to the fundamentals combined with the BoE cutting interest rates somewhat unnecessarily. We continue to run a huge deficit. The Government has no clear idea how to eradicate the deficit without taking an axe to the welfare state. We have been living beyond our means. We can't really afford exotic fruits, and vegetables out of season.

P.S. on the subject of tomatoes, I remember when the Lea Valley in NE London was full of greenhouses supplying the local market. There still a few ruined ones left, I believe. Why Holland should have cornered the market, I don't know.

 

[Lovely Rum]

28 minutes ago, onlooker said:

 

P.S. on the subject of tomatoes, I remember when the Lea Valley in NE London was full of greenhouses supplying the local market. There still a few ruined ones left, I believe. Why Holland should have cornered the market, I don't know.

 

i think it was labour shortages that lead to the demise of the lee valley green houses. they couldn't get locals to do the work. i suppose the industry can now be revived using eastern europeans??