Warning that food prices 'could rise by as much as 50%' amid fuel costs and war in Ukraine

There is a warning that the price for some food could rise by as much as 50% as many in the sector face rising costs.

Already food and drink prices are increasing at their fastest rate than at any time in the past decade.

Increasing energy and fuel prices and the war in Ukraine are having an impact on many businesses.

Chief executive of Scotland Food and Drink, James Wither said: “Between supermarkets, between farmers, between manufacturers they’ve been taking the hit just now.

“That was before we saw the latest rocketing of prices as result of rippling impact of Ukraine, prices have to rise again.

“On Monday supermarkets in Germany started implementing 20 to 50% rises on some products.

“It’s not inconceivable that is the scale of price increase we could see here on some staple items.

“Frankly that price increase is going to have to happen if businesses are to survive but at the same time we have to work out how we protect low income families.”

Supermarkets and Government must, according to the NFU Scotland President, “wake up” or be “held responsible for the biggest food inflation rises in generations”.

Martin Kennedy said: “The cost of production linked to fertiliser, fuel, energy and animal feed prices continue to rocket.

“From a livestock perspective, my own costs for fertiliser alone have risen from £3 per bale of silage to £11 per bale.

“When you add in fuel and plastic wrap, it looks like the only way forward is to reduce numbers.”

The fishing sector has already been hit with rising fuel costs.

The war in Ukraine has also closed some export markets and increase tariffs on some whitefish too.

The industry is calling for more to be done to protect and secure the supply here.

Chief Executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, Elspeth Macdonald said: “There is so much focus at the moment on our energy security but there needs to be focus on our food security.

“The industry certainly is looking to both the UK and Scottish Governments to create policies that really protect our food security and really help our industry to feed the nation.”

The rural affairs secretary, Mairi Gougeon said: “We recently established a taskforce together with various representatives from across the food and drinks industry to really get to grips with all the issues that are being experienced at the moment.

“Imports and also the exports situation but there is also the rising cost of fuel, so we are looking to address some of these issues.”