skip to main content

'Breakfast Index' at lowest level since 2010

The FT Breakfast index is at its lowest level since 2010
The FT Breakfast index is at its lowest level since 2010

The cost of breakfast is at its lowest level in five years thanks to falling commodity prices.

The FT Breakfast index monitors the equally weighted average price of six commodities - milk, coffee, wheat, orange juice, sugar and lean hogs, or pork.

The index is now at its lowest level since 2010. 

While that is good news for consumers, food deflation is proving a real problem for farmers. 

Coffee prices, for example, are down 28% this year. 

Prices spiked last year because of a drought in Brazil which hit supply but have fallen because of strong crops this year and a drop in the value of the Brazilian currency.

The index shows that pork prices are down 16%, sugar has fallen 22% while milk prices have slumped 33% on the back of international oversupply in the face of weak demand from China and Russia. 

The price of orange juice has reduced by 10%, while wheat prices have fallen by 23% due to record harvests in the likes of France and Australia.