Big Macs and More: Food Prices Shoot Up

Bought an apple lately? If you’ve gone food shopping in any local market or stopped off at a fruit stall in the last month or so, you’d likely have noticed that a bag of fruit has left a deeper dent in your pocket than it did a year ago.

October saw a 10.1 percent increase in food prices over the same month last year, and this jump has lead to a higher overall inflation rate of 4.4 percent, the highest inflation in China in over 2 years. The price increases can be outrageous – some are even double what they were a year ago. For instance, garlic and ginger used to be 4-5 kuai one jin (half kilo), and are now 8 kuai and up. Fruit prices are also uniformly much higher, apples and bananas at least 1-2 kuai more per jin than last year. Major dairy producers are also increasing prices by 4-10 percent, according to China Daily.

Many locals are feeling the pinch of this inflation, as food costs make up a large portion of income for most Chinese (some sources say up to 40 percent). The government has proposed many causes for this price hike, including the flooding this summer in Central China that affected farm production. The good news is that the government is providing food subsidies and freezing food prices to help low-income families.

While these price hikes may not be evident to those of us that don’t shop in markets, they do add up, and it is likely that these increases will be soon be reflected in higher restaurant prices as well. McDonald’s for instance, has already announced it is increasing the prices for its menu by 0.5-1 kuai per item. Will it just be a matter of time before all other restaurants start raising prices? Likely – there are already reports that some local restaurants are no longer serving some dishes due to pricier ingredients.