According to industry leaders, the cost of curry in Britain could rise due to rising wholesale spices prices.
Indian spice suppliers told food producers that they are planning a 50% increase in the price of spices for Indian recipes, including cumin and coriander.
Food companies claim that the prices of garlic and ginger have risen 50% over the last six months.
Bosses say that other ingredients like spinach, green peppers, and chillies are also on the rise by as high as 25%.
According to Indian restaurant owners, the rising cost of wages due to a lack of qualified chefs and spiralling costs for utilities and transport – new numbers suggest that they could have increased by 30% in the past two years – are also weighing down on profits.
Inflation could soon lead to the loss of popular food items like Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala or Saag Aloo.
One restaurateur told MailOnline that prices could rise by as much as £1 per dish.
Due to an increase of spice prices, popular dishes like Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala and Saag Aloo may be next victims of inflation.
According to reports, ingredient suppliers told food companies that they are planning a massive increase in the cost of spices (library photo). According to food suppliers, the price of ginger and garlic has risen by 50 percent in six months.
Yawar Khan who is chairman of the Asian Catering Federation, (ACF), owns a restaurant. Things like cooking oil we used to pay £19 (for a 20litre drum) and now it is £24.’
Yawar Khan is the Chairman of The Asian Catering Federation (ACF). He told MailOnline that prices are rising for many ingredients. Things like cooking oil we used to pay £19 (for a 20litre drum) and now it is £24.
‘Spices would normally costs around £5-per-kilogram (2lbs), but now costs around £6.50. Chicken has increased by 20%, lamb about 20%.
Khan said that Indian restaurants were also affected by a lack of skilled chefs.
He explained that restaurants are being forced to pay higher wages in order to retain staff.
“They pay around 15 to 20 percent more for their salaries. In order to survive, restaurants will have to pass on all these additional costs to their customers.
Asked how much he expects curry prices to rise, Mr Khan, whose ACF group are behind the Asian Restaurant Awards, said: ‘I think somewhere between 40p to £1.
He added that the majority of people believe that cheap curry is the best way to lower quality. The days of Friday night cheap curry seem to be over.
Meanwhile, Thomas Cropper, managing director of ready meals and food-to-go brand, Tuk in Foods, told trade magazine, The Grocer, that he had been emailed by an ingredient supplier who said they ‘wanted to put a 50 per cent increase on the price of our spices’.
He claimed that customers would feel the pinch from an increase in ingredient prices because it is ‘inevitable.
Mr Cropper, whose business is based in Leicester and has recently signed a £3million deal to supply products to Co-Op, told the magazine: ‘People cannot produce food at the same cost as two years ago, so inevitably consumers are going to pay more.’
MailOnline received information from him that Indian restaurants and takeaways could be affected but not as severely as companies like his.
Cropper stated that ingredients account for 30% of a business’s costs, whereas restaurant’s will make up 10%. This will have an effect, however, it won’t as significant.
The Grocer said that they’d seen an increase of spice prices. Some believe this is due to rising transportation costs.
Jara Zicha from Mintec, a commodity analyst said that price changes were caused by a range of factors.
He explained that, “The UK spice markets has been affected, as many others, by freight issues, and Brexit.”
“Soaring freight prices, increasing shipping costs, delays in shipping, inadequate container capacity, port bottlenecks and driver shortages for HGVs are all factors that impact supply availability, driving up costs.
“Add in weather issues from some countries as well rising packaging prices and importers will be under pressure.”
This comes just as the UK’s inflation reached its highest point in eight years, according to Office of National Statistics (ONS).
According to statistics, the Consumer Prices Index index of annual inflation rose from 2 percent in July to 3.2% in August.
Thomas Cropper, from Tuk in Foods (pictured), told MailOnline that Indian takeaways and restaurants would be affected, but not in the same way as his businesses.
This represents the highest annual rate since March 2012. However, prices are expected to rise slightly in September.
In September 2018, the increase in cost of living was 3.1%, compared to August’s 3.2 percent.
This is despite rising petrol prices, higher winter gas bills and a shortage of HGV drivers. These factors have led to an increase in transport costs that has resulted in empty shelves for Christmas.
The combination of rising global natural gas prices and the effects of Covid as well as a shortage of labour force, which was partly due to Brexit, is what has been blamed.
But, inflation in the EU is high as well. According to the most recent data, Germany’s inflation stands at five percent per year, the highest since the 1930s.
Due to the UK’s labour shortage, the UK has a severe shortage in staff for the hospitality sector, which has caused many restuarants across the country to close their doors.
Thomas Heier, chief executive at Wagammama pan Asian restaurant chain, stated that the company was experiencing difficulties at 30 locations.
“We have witnessed a decline in EU worker numbers in particular. However, we are also seeing increased competition from delivery and logistics firms that struggle to fill the increased number of vacant positions.
UKHospitality has been a lobby group representing the industry and described the lack of staffing as “critical”.
The Office for National Statistics revealed that the sector of hospitality had a vacancy rate of 10%, which is equivalent to approximately 210,000 jobs.
Today’s announcement comes after a marketplace index revealed that the UK’s road transport pricing reached a record-breaking 33-month high in September 2021.
TEG Road Transport Price Index, which monitors changes in pricing for road transport services, found that the market for road transport experienced its highest average price per mile over 33 months in September 2021. This is a 30% increase on January 2019.
But, it is believed that the index stabilized in October.
Lyall Cresswell CEO, Transport Exchange Group says that the demand for truck drivers and freight capacity is unrivalled.
Kirsten Tisdale, director of logistics consultants Aricia Limited and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport, says: ‘Any price index is influenced by several factors: underlying cost changes; availability/capacity of the market; and demand for the service.
TEG Road Transport Price Indices are influenced by changes in diesel prices and road transport demand.
“Driver’s pay is also a factor contributing to the increase in Spring 2021, however it appears that potential overheating transport rates has abated, even though there could still be additional pent-up demand.”
The Bank of England stated last week that inflation was already affecting the household income of Britons and would continue to do so this winter.
Andrew Bailey expressed regret for the current situation and warned that higher prices in energy could be permanent as a result of the shift away from coal.
This graph shows how energy prices are projected by the Bank to account for a large part of the near‑term pickup in inflation
As shown in the Bank graph, wholesale oil and natural gas prices increased significantly between 2021 and 2021.
According to him, inflation is an issue that affects the household income. He said that inflation is already affecting their household income in the form of rising prices.
“I regret that this has happened.” We don’t want that to happen.
Bailey said that inflation was caused by the rising cost of energy, particularly natural gas. He also predicted higher prices due to the switch to global net zero.
He stated, “It’s reasonable and necessary that we might transition to more polluting oil to less-polluting hydrocarbons until finally let’s pray we emerge in an even more complete and renewable economy.”
“So, some of the changes we have observed in gas prices could already be causing climate change.
“Another part would be permanent higher price, and not higher inflation, but a level increase in prices.
Even though yesterday’s Bank of England vote against raising interest rates, mortgage prices are on the rise.
Rates will remain at record low 0.1 percent, allowing homeowners who have variable-rate mortgages to get a break from rising bills.
But experts warned it is only a matter of time before rates do go up – with a hike still possible before Christmas.
Lenders have pulled the cheapest fixed rates in the week following the Budget to prepare for an upward march. Just hours before the Bank’s vote they increased their rates.
After a “knife edge” decision, the Bank of England decided today to maintain interest rates at 0.1 percent.
This graph shows the Bank of England’s CPI inflation projections based upon market expectations.
A graph showing the Bank’s projected gross domestic product based on market expectation of interest rates was also published by them
Banks and building societies have announced 42 different sets of rate changes with hundreds of deals now more expensive, according to mortgage broker L&C. There have been multiple rate increases, and loans below 1 percent are disappearing quickly.
For struggling families whose budgets have been squeezed already by rising prices and potential tax increases, higher mortgage rates will come as a big blow.
However, for many millions of savers that have endured more than 10 years of low rates, it was a huge disappointment to see the base rate maintained at 0.1%.
There is currently no account which protects cash from rising prices.
There is £965.7billion in easy access accounts earning an average of 0.1 per cent, according to the Bank of England.
With inflation predicted to hit 5 per cent next year, savers stand to lose out on £47.3billion of spending power.