“This was the highest rate of inflation in food prices since 2008.”
Economists are predicting that the cost of food will be “significantly higher” due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Jim Power spoke about the impact inflation will have on the country on The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk on Wednesday (6 April).
“I think it’s important to understand the context of the war,” Power said.
“Russia is the number one exporter of natural gas in the world, number two in oil and number three exporter in coal.
“Russia and Ukraine account for 29% of global wheat exports and 80% of sunflower seeds.
“It’s a very important part of the world in terms of these commodity exports.
“Obviously the whole supply chain has fallen down dramatically, prices have increased dramatically, and we are now seeing this feeding through dramatically into consumer prices in Ireland.”
Power predicted that families will feel the pinch of inflation in the summer months when it comes to food shopping.
“In February, food price inflation was at 2.9%, well below the average rate of inflation, but the important point is that this was the highest rate of inflation in food prices since 2008.
“Everything we see out there at the moment in terms of the impact of global wheat supplies and how that’s feeding through the price of wheat and then how that feeds into other food products, and of course, the cost of producing food because of potash and fertiliser costs is also going to increase significantly.
“I think that consumers are certainly facing into significantly higher food prices in the next coming months,” he added.
Power recommended that people on fixed incomes, such as pensioners and the unemployed should plan ahead for how much the rising costs will impact their finances at the end of each week.
More than half of parents in Ireland have cut back on paying bills in order to afford food for their families according to a survey published in February.
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