[Peaches4U]

Have you noticed that food prices have gone up dramatically. I sure was in for a shock the other day when I went to the grocers for a few items. I will post a few paragraphs reported about a merchant that is raising prices but on the same token has reported an increased 23% profit. The following article applies in Canada but I would assume it also applies to other countries. Your thoughts??

Quote

George Weston to hike food prices
Firm's earnings up 23% in fourth quarter

Toronto-based food processor George Weston Ltd. served notice Thursday that higher consumer prices are on the way.

The company, which owns baker Weston Foods and retailer Loblaw, said it will increase prices by five per cent as of April 1, in order to pass on rising commodity costs.

Climbing prices of key product ingredients like wheat, sugar and vegetable oil, plus higher transportation costs could have a negative impact of up to $65 million this year, it said, adding that the prices of some of these items have shot up as much as 50 per cent in recent months.

The comments came as the firm reported that fourth-quarter profits grew 23 per cent to $101 million, or 70 cents a share, despite a small decline in sales. That compared with $82 million, or 52 cents a share on the same period a year earlier.

"We would expect to recover these commodity cost increases in the back three quarters of the year," Ralph Robinson, president of Weston Foods Canada, said during a conference call.

"If commodity costs remain at these levels, we would be looking for some more pricing in the back end of the year."

The general rule of thumb is that it takes six months to a year for higher commodity prices to then be passed down to the retail level, Derek Burleton Deputy Chief Economist TD Bank Financial Group told CBC News.

full article here: http://www.cbc.ca/ne...rge-weston.html