As you may have heard, food manufacturers and processors have been blaming increased energy costs on the recent spike in the cost of food. It appears that this is a thinly veiled lie, as evidenced by this recent news story from the Wisconsin State Journal. Kraft Foods, the largest food and beverage maker in the nation has reported a second-quarter profit increase of 4% (with retail price increases accounting for more than 7% of the quarter’s gain in overall revenue), hardly indicating tough times for manufacturers and processors facing “increased costs”. Thanks for ripping us off while lying about justification. Worst of all, the people who are hurt the most by this behavior are the folks who could hardly afford to pay for food in the first place. Thanks a lot, Kraft.
The company has been raising prices and will continue to do so in the third quarter, she said.
Cheese prices are now 6 percent to 33 percent higher than they were a year ago, executives said, with the highest increase in natural cheese. But the price increases helped revenue rise 10 percent in the cheese category in the quarter.
To me, $732,000,000 in pure profit generated in only 3 months of record high food prices doesn’t sound like they are suffering from the rising cost of fuel, it sounds like a criminal offense. Don’t bother calling your state representatives though, they’ve already been paid for.
