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I am not sure that this is not a fake news, because it is in several digital media but not in any of the big ones. In any case, there is inflation all over Europe, and there will continue to be, but such a rise in supermarkets, if it materializes, should make the ECB think about what to do, since its main mission is to control inflation, and lately it had been a bit lenient with it.

'...the German trade association said that before the Ukrainian war, prices had already risen by 5% in Germany "for the entire product line" because of rising energy costs. Moreover, "the second wave of price hikes is coming, definitely by double-digit percentages." Aldi also expects German food prices to rise by 20% to 50% in the next few weeks. According to a survey recently published by the Ifo Institute, almost all German food retail companies plan to increase prices. "Germany's food supply is guaranteed for the foreseeable next year," said the German Agricultural Organization. "But beyond that time frame, it is difficult to make predictions. "'

Source: German food prices will rise sharply, Germans have to face a more impoverished life. (https://inf.news/en/news/d7ca400a6c1ff7768ec7945827e23d79.html)

The problem with inflation is that there is no short-term solution to it. You have to have at least a medium-term vision to fight it and it cannot be based only on withdrawing liquidity from the market as the ECB plans to do. Energy policy also plays an important role, and the solution proposed to stop depending on Russian gas is more expensive.

With respect to the ECB, another problem that may be encountered is that of a catch-22 situation. After many years of giving massive amounts of drugs to the junkie, you cannot withdraw all the drugs at once, or the junkie will go cold turkey. Let's see how they do it without a major crisis.

Not just Germany, rather many other countries in EU are facing the same issue. EU countries are one of the major importers of Russian oil. Due to the war, many countries have reduced the size of such import which led to fuel price increase. Along with fuel price increase, the price of commodities are going up because the transport cost is going up. Then it comes to inflation which is reducing the "purchasing power parity" of EURO which is again eating into the price of the commodities.

It can be solved if they are able to import oil from any other country. But US has imposed sanctions on Venezuela where they could have got cheapest oil. If I look at the previous data (2019), Russia accounts for roughly 27% of oil imports for EU. When such a big chuck of an import dries out, it pushes the price of everything dependent on oil. EU should stop being the puppets of US and UK. One has to remember that these two countries are responsible for most number of wars in the history of humankind.

20 to 50% seems pretty exaggerated.The food price growth will be more like 10-25%.
The European central bank must stop with the quantitative easing,but this might create big problems with the government debt of southern European counties like Greece and Italy.
Germany will have to re-launch it's nuclear power plants,in order to reduce the energy production by gas power plants.This will take some time.
I really hope that the war in Ukraine ends before June,so that Russia and Ukraine will be able to export grain and foods to Europe(if the western sanctions get removed).
The high levels of inflation in Europe and North America will continue in the next few years.

This is expected. Ukraine and Russia were supporters of cheap raw materials for production, fertilizers and etc. The growth of production cost will increase in no time. Add increased cost of logistics and 50% of food prices increase will be a beginning.

I am not from Germany, but I already feel how prices increased. My shop receipt is same length, but the its total has increased significantly.

I think this is all due to fuel price increase. Everyone supporter, producer and intermediary add their little % to cover losses, and in total we have 50% raise.

After the governments have pumped shitloads of money to attenuate the problems created by COVID and lock down to economies, now it should have been the time to rise the taxes and partly cover that.
In 2020 and 2021 a lot of crops were not harvested because of the lack of cheap workers from Eastern Europe.

Now gas and oil prices rose a lot (and consequently electricity too) and we don't know whether they'll stop rising in the near future (the supply chains may have to be changed and rebuilt to avoid Russia).
More expensive (especially because of the green certificates) coal based electricity will be produced for the next few years even in the developed countries.
Everything that heated, produced automatically and or/transported will be more expensive. And it's very difficult to assess by how much. Not yet.

In the eastern countries the prices did and do rise. If this was not happening yet in Germany, it only means the supermarkets had longer term contracts with fixed prices and the suppliers have worked at a loss (which they will recover now).

So don't panic, still, expect tougher times.



Will EU decrease for a while the price of the green certificates? That could help, but I'm not sure it's something we'd really want. And neither them...
But... do you expect solutions from... ECB? What solutions? More paper money?! That happens anyway, since instead of the planned reduction of inflation, will be an even bigger rise of that.

Inflation like this is predictable, because the Ukraine war has disrupted the global supply chain and also increased global oil and gas prices ... not to mention some Russian decisions which caused a significant impact on the European economy

There is no solution the government will provide you, one of the purpose the government created fiat is to have control on it, the control in term of price increase and decrease has been on the later side, the economy can not always favour, the government would have no option than to devalue their own fiat currency.

Inflation do not matters to those that have businesses, as government devalue fiat, they increase the price of goods and services they are offering people to buy or demand for. Only poeple that can lose in such situation are people that are holding fiat, once the government devalue the fiat, the money in fiat is devalued, some people would have fiat in their savings, or fixed deposit account.

The solution to this problem has been existing since ages, even before fiat was created, the solution are what that have intrinsic value that price would be increasing as people are demanding for it but decreasing as people are selling it, going for the what people are adopting (buying) than selling it, so the price increase in long term. In this digital era, bitcoin is an example. Why hold fiat, why not just hold bitcoin, gold or reputed stocks and of the likes which are perfect solutions. Fiat should just be for spending while appreciative assets like bitcoin for holding.

Inflation has started in EU countries before Russia invaded Ukraine, but we can not say the war do not have impact on the increasing inflation. It can only be minimize if EU are importing oil and gas from other countries successfully and getting not dependent on Russian Imports.

According to recent data I got from BBC (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60944322) that Russia won't cut off gas supplies yet in rouble payment row, Russia is importing 40% of EU gas and a third (1/3) of oil.

I would prefer a reduction in public spending, as raising taxes, especially in this context, further stifles the productive sectors and consumption.


No, it is not that I expect much from the ECB, and in any case I would say the opposite, that what it has to do now is to print less and buy less, not more, but if they see that there is a crisis, or a decrease as they like to call it, they are immediately tempted to give drugs to the junkie again.


I would specify and say that only successful businesses are able to beat inflation by passing it on to their products and services and being able to continue at a rate of sales that gives them a net profit. Inflation affects businesses and can take a lot of them down with it. Think of companies that have long-term contracts for a set price and now have to pay much more for raw materials, for example.

Talking about increasing inflation create and raising the price of food is not just about Germany or some a few countries, recently due to the inflation rate we could expect this situation on the other hand since the crisis started in Europe and especially Ukrnine, there were some issues with food exports and from Ukraine to the other countries in Europe, it seems like due to these factors the food prices and the inflation rate will raise never higher in the Europe and America.

this has been predicted by experts. but 50% is a very big thing. Inflation and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war are the main reasons why commodity prices are rising high. And Russia plans to use crypto/ruble for its energy export payments. this becomes another problem, and is expected to make the price of necessities more expensive. This problem also occurs in European countries, especially those that import energy from Russia.

Not just Germany and the EU, but the biggest issues are in countries that rely vastly on grain imports from Ukraine and Russia, Egipt and Yemen for instance. They are facing enormous humanitarian disasters that seem like they can't be dealt with just like that. So whatever we feel here in Europe, they will feel it tenfold. And it's not just because of transport, there is literary nothing being produced from Ukraine and there is an export embargo on Russian grains and there's just no food available, Even if the war stops tomorrow, Ukraine grain production will not resume and it's basically, in a best-case scenario, dead for this season. That is a huge issue.

The war between Ukraine and Russia that has caused much sanctions to Russia and Russia fighting back on the sanction has exposed EU to her dependency rate on Russian Oil and her gas too. I read it is affecting transportation in Germany and this I think is a direct reason for the rise in goods both from supermarket. Inflation is usually caused by high rate of transportation because businesses will want to gain extra from the price of transportation of getting their goods for sale.

Start saving some of your monthly salary in Bitcoin sers. The path to hyperinflation might be starting to show itself. This situation is what motivated Satoshi to code Bitcoin. For plebs like us to have a hedge in case the cabal behind the monetary system makes a fatal mistake.

When Putin and his entourage became convinced that they would not be able to capture the entire territory of Ukraine, the Russian military was ordered to kill the civilian population of Ukraine, as well as destroy the infrastructure of this state, including to destroy its economy. Therefore, rocket and bomb strikes were carried out not only on military, but also on civilian objects, warehouses, oil depots, which casts great doubt on the sowing campaign in Ukraine. In addition, the occupiers steal grain and agricultural machinery. Ukraine was one of the significant exporters of agricultural products to Europe and other countries of the world, and Russia's aggression disrupted all this. In particular, it has a detrimental effect on Russia itself. Trade sanctions apply to all parties. Therefore, much less will enter the world food market this year and this will cause a significant increase in their prices.

How much was 50% inflation? I know Germany is a first world country, but there are still poor people in that country. How do they manage to cope with this big rise? Here in our country, we do have a 3.7% inflation rate as of the moment, but we really feel it and, as my self is struggling, how much more than 50%? Prices here rise, and most of us, especially the poor, are unable to cope. Imagine I asked some of the kids who live nearby our house, we know they are poor about how they are. They just stated that they only eat twice a day! They skip breakfast just to save food, and then they eat lunch, and the left-overs are for dinner they are hoping that the price will go down they are always mocking to government but I agree that government has no short term effect on this! unless they are given money or food.

I think it has been said many times that we will have to pay for everything that has been going on for almost 2 years, and some have obviously imagined that there is something like a free lunch - but that lunch has now come to fruition, with interest. The war has only added fuel to the fire and is not the main reason for inflation, although some are trying to portray it as the main reason for this price rage.

I have noticed that some things have become more expensive, especially sunflower oil, which is 30-60% more expensive depending on the producer, although the rise in food prices will only be felt in the coming months because producers are facing higher prices for fertilizers which is measured in hundreds of percent upwards. I grow vegetables in my garden, and the land for seedlings I use is 100% more expensive than last year, not to mention everything else.

As far as the European Central Bank is concerned, centralization and the common currency are now coming to the fore, all eurozone members are in the same problem - while those countries that have their own currencies still have more room for maneuver.

Although this is not the rule for all non-eurozone members, for example, the price of 1 liter of gasoline in Hungary is € 1.28, while in Italy it is € 1.87 and in France even € 2.00. (data for March 28).

https://www.tolls.eu/fuel-prices

I have also had this same thought of whether the EU should consider making their imports of gas from other countries that are known to be major suppliers of gas around the world. Based on research there are other countries that can as well supply gas to the EU, and these countries are as follows: US, Qatar, Algeria, Nigeria, Canada, Australia and Norway.

So, what I’m trying to know is whether the EU has been considering these other countries to become there major gas suppliers?  Currently, being cut off from Russian supply has been quite damaging to the economy for the countries in the EU.

Well maybe now not only in Germany but almost all countries are doing the same thing now.
In the country I live in now prices have skyrocketed in several other sectors such as fuel and food. Even now, the existence of oil for frying in my country has become scarce now and this indirectly makes the price spike higher and quite expensive.

Mate, this is not only happening in Germany but I think we have experienced it all along in Indonesia. Unbearable inflation has made it difficult for millions of people exacerbated by financial conditions that do not improve. Economic growth is not commensurate with the inflation rate that occurs so we really have to spend more money to buy something in the market.

We don't know how to get through it all without any problems especially when financial conditions are so unfavorable. This is truly an unimaginable condition a few years ago where almost all basic necessities are becoming more expensive compared to last year. Expletives are meaningless, they never improve things. We really need economic stability at this time.

Well, the reason has already been stated. It is because of Rising energy cost. The current situation has really put a lot of countries in difficulties. From 2020 pandemic to this years war between Russia and the Ukraine has really messed up a lot of things and lead to more inflation for a lot of countries due to the decisions that were left for them to make.

The one problem with inflation is that whenever it strikes, it is difficult for things to go back as it used to be. Sometimes the effect is a permanent one and it just continues, because there wouldn’t be a solution to the problem.

This war will have a significant impact all over the world. Not only Germany but also middle Western countries also facing food shortages and the price of food spiking up. Some Asian countries like Sri Lanka, and Pakistan also facing high prices for food even these countries can produce food for their population. People may fight the war on one side of the world but its consequences shake the whole world.

This whole situation materialized because Russia decided to invade a peaceful neighbor, that is the fact which is never going to change. Putin decided that after 2 years of a worldwide pandemic crisis, the world should be plunged into another crisis with the first major war in Europe in decades. Not only did he cut Russia off, with an economy that heavily relies on exporting resources and commodities, he crippled one of the other biggest wheat & grain exporters of the world, so Russia will be contributing the many more people starving in the world. Europe may have a contraction, but due to relatively high living standards already, it is going to pale in comparison and the richest countries will suffer the least unfortunately.

There is a 20% increase in the price of gas and it is so significant in cost of production. More also the demand for fuel increased when the pandemic ended and restrictions were lifted, the government had been very careful with countering the inflation in the country. Purchasing power of citizens has gone bad and it has been surprising for a stable economy like Germany struggle with such bad economic trend for more than 6 months now

Farmers in europe have protested negative conditions there for many years.


Now it seems, negative financial issues farmers have can no longer be contained and are beginning to spillover into consumer markets.

Farmers in europe have been strained with difficulty remaining liquid for more than a decade.


As an american, I remember seeing many clips on youtube of european farmers protesting in their tractors. Over a long span of years.

Unfortunately, I do not remember exactly what the fundamental motives were for the protests.

Its kinda expected to happen as a chain effect result of the covid strain. Government will eventually increase taxes to recover economy after the covid strain thus increasing the price of of some other necessities in several sector including agriculture. Farmers will be forced to to reduce their quantity and increase the price because of this and the whole customer chain will be taking the effect of the food price increment

This is just the result of what government did when covid hit us in 2020, all they just did is printed more money and liquidated them into the market to keep the circulation of money in the economy but as a result of this we can see further hike in the price, even I noticed some products prices are doubled in the last 2 years.

I think you remember 2019, when farmers of Germany protest against updates in agricultural policy.

My local news page shows weird article today. EU is worried about their economy being choked by high fuel prices and drops in sales market . But isnt it what they created such situation by themselves? First they nominate sanctions, and move away from huge Russian market, now they complain that they dont know where to sell their goods. I told that sanctions is not the best option to solve war conflict.

It's just starting ser. After more months of this, the cabal will have no choice and definitely need to raise the rates and cause a recession to control inflation. BUT it wouldn't be enough, it's too late. All the will cause is STAGFLATION in some countries like Turkey/Venezuela, a recession + inflation. Screencap this post if I'm right, I'll delete it if I'm wrong. Hahaha. 8)

I don't think there's anyone left within ECB who remembers their mandate. Isn't 50% close to the increase in money supply over the past few years?

That's one way of putting it! I'd say they're nuts :P

But the longer you wait, the more it's going to hurt.

It's ECB's solution for anything. Credit crisis? Brrr! Pandemic? Brrr! Climate change? Brrr! Inflation? Still Brrr!

Governments are still spending more because of Covid, and my country is planning even more large expenses (mainly for climate policies).

Something tells me this is only the beginning. Sure the current geopolitical situation has increased shortages, but long-term EU emission goals for 2050 and even for 2030 mean we'll have to consume much less fossil fuel. I've already seen memes (https://9gag.com/gag/adgK3X2) about it. Those goals are unrealistic or at least very expensive.

It was an idea, but I do not see how the EU will be able to achieve these goals within these deadlines, especially if it has to speed up the process at the moment in order to get rid of its dependence on Russian oil and gas. I think that some kind of turnaround will have to be made towards increasing the production of energy from nuclear power plants, which might mean building new ones.

A few days ago I read the news that the UK plans to build several new nuclear power plants (https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/britain-could-build-seven-nuclear-power-stations-minister-2022-04-02/) in response to the current crisis, and despite the EU's resistance to nuclear power, this seems like one of the proposals to be considered. As far as gas is concerned, the only logical choice is to build LNG terminals in strategic places in the EU (https://www.econnectenergy.com/articles/jettyless-terminals-accelerating-alternative-lng-import-to-europe), ie to upgrade the already existing infrastructure.

Inflation has been affecting my own country in the middle part of the fight against Covid-19 as supply chain became disrupted and many producers are getting out of business for different reasons. Sadly, this is affecting the poor more than the rich as prices of foods are starting to move up. Now, with the coming in of Russian invasion in Ukraine, things started to spiral out of control as here in my country we are almost 100% dependent on imported oil and it is an important part of the cost of any business. The same situation is now affecting USA and in this case the European zone with Germany as a big example. Certainly, people are complaining but for now there is nothing we can do but bear the burden.

I posted about something like that months ago, specifically in Germany. The fastest, most efficient and the cleanest, or "clean enough" way to generate energy in the E.U.is through Nuclear. That" if they want a real solution to be independent from Russian natural gas.

Plus by winter if the E.U. and Russia has not come to a resulotion with this "Ukraine issue", they better have the Rouble to pay Putin.

There are few things that can be attributed to the rising prices in Germany:
1. Disruption of the export and import
2. Rise in energy prices
There are few things that is hard to find in Germany now, basic things like :
1. Sunflower oil
2. Flour
These things are mainly increasing in the prices due to the Ukraine Russia war, which is not going to get solved that soon, even if the government of Moscow agreed verbally on ceasefire few days back, I do not think that Ukranian is almost ready to forgive them.
How the prices can be stabilized?
1. Different countries to import from they might have to make newer deals since the sanctions would be permanent as stated by the EU
2. Trying to make these things locally this would also provide new market for the farmers and provide other people some jobs
This is inevitable! Hopefully the government will take better actions.

If true that is a huge price hike, people can accept a 5% inflation on their food, they will not like it but they can accept this as a result of external factors, but a price hike of 20% to 50%? that is simply unacceptable no matter where you live.

And the fact this could happen at Germany of all places is worrying, if Germany cannot deal with the inflation then who on the EU can do it? And what about countries that always had issues with their inflation or their food supply? If that inflation actually happens then I think we can officially say governments have lost control over inflation and the world economy is bound to get in an even worse shape.

Covid pandemic + shortage of gas = inflation.
An economists would expect it but if an average Joe also knows it then time will just tell when the inflation will begin. It's not just Germany. My damn electric bill is going up every month and I am freaking out.
Our electric usage is the same, it's a routine. It even shows in the graph history of my monthly usage consumption. This is the time. They need the money back and people will pay for what they received for free in 3 years.

It's high time for EU to start questioning US and their moves! The cheapest oil supplier in the world is Venezuela. US has imposed bans and various international sanctions to stop Venezuela from selling their oils to any other country. EU could have purchased cheapest oil from Venezuela but they are not able to do it for US. United States is a two faced entity. The faster people understands that, the better! They can go to any extent to save their dollar bills and they themselves are sitting on the world's largest oil reserve.

Inflation is a challenge for sure. But that's not the only reason for rising commodity prices. The commodity prices are increasing because oil price is increasing. Oil price has a direct effect on commodity price and that's what is happening! US is playing a big game to weaken the economy of EU indirectly and they are the sole responsible for the humanitarian crisis happening in Venezuela. 

I have to guess that the free lunch was not even given that much, it wasn't really given. This isn't really about pandemic, it is not about given free money, it is not about inflation all that much, it is about the fact that oil is something Russia has a lot of, and European nations do not have enough at all. Which means that we are talking about gas prices increasing a lot due to Russia war, and sanctions to them.

This results with food becoming more expensive because logistics of it became a bigger price as well. That's what I am guessing as the biggest problem, if Russia didn't attacked Ukraine, and there were no oil problems, inflation would have happened, but not this much.

Actually especially the gas prices have started rising well before the war. And it was not only because Putin was preparing for the war, no. It was because Russia has understood that Europe miscalculated its politics.

You cannot just get rid of coal based electricity and nuclear based electricity in one rather quick step if you don't really have something that's yours and can use instead.
Well, EU thought that they can rely on Russia's gas because, you know, Russians and so nice fellas.
Of course, a monopoly will rise its prices, not because they have to, just because they can and you have no other alternative than pay, no matter what.


So no, it's not only about the war. The latest mix of green plans, although the intentions were most probably good, was the seed for this disaster, from the ever rising prices to Putin thinking that the West, in the same way they pay for the gas, will also allow him take Ukraine to be his backyard.

 In Turkey, we have about a %100 increase in most stuff, even more in certain smaller stuff as well. A simple cabbage has like % a 400 increase, for example, it became news that people are selling "quarter" cabbages. This is cabbage we are talking about.
 
 If Germany is like that, I am not shocked by our nation is in an even worse situation, no wonder why. The gas prices need to go down, I do not know how we will do it but this can't go on, every single thing in life became way too expensive. At this moment nobody is focusing on living, we are all focusing on literally just survival. The economical situation in the world is not about how to get better or anything like that, its about how we won't be in huge debt before we die, that's where the horribleness reached.

Before the war, 10-25 percent was realistic. Post-war, I don't think 50 percent is an exaggeration. Energy prices are too high and the German economy was restricted with COVID. These issue are compounding the global supply chain issues that were already in place so you can expect the bump in food prices.

What's concerning is that the formula Germany has going for them (COVID restrictions, high energy prices, global supply chain issues) essentially apply to every country in the world so the food shortages are not going to be isolated to just Germany.

People were labeled as alarmists for suggesting this type of possibility a year ago due to COVID without even having the war in foresight.

It is to be expected, but I saw some other news that it was around 20 percent maximum around Europe. Never expected to be 50 percent, this is an alarming rate. The poor can't afford to eat 3 times a day anymore. What could be imposed to avoid this kind of dilemma? It is sad knowing that this could happen any part in the world including where my family lives in. It is very hard right now that we makes ends meet, our family rely on us. The world is getting harder every day to live in, these wars are the primary suspect and should be ended soon before people start dying of hunger.

Until next winter, it is impossible to find alternative sources of gas and oil, at least not in sufficient quantities - and given that Germany is holding back even tougher sanctions against Russia, it is difficult to expect that it will stop doing business with Russia. As the country that is most dependent on Russian gas and has the greatest influence in the EU, we can say that next to Hungary, it is Russia's biggest covert ally.

As much as I had the opportunity to see the Russian media with great enthusiasm write about the elections in Hungary and their sister country Serbia, and hope that the presidential election in France in a few days could benefit because according to recent polls Marine Le Pen (https://graphics.reuters.com/FRANCE-ELECTION/POLLS/zjvqkomzlvx/) is very close to the current president.

The problem there is that you can't make a car go with nuclear energy. So, you still need some petrol in your country for many things, not just cars of course but that is probably mainly it, and airplanes as well if I am not wrong, that was Jetfuel right?

This is why I believe that we shouldn't really be considering being totally out of need of Russia. They will need Russia for a long time, but they could need them less, that us all they could hope for. They could also get it from places like Saudiarabia but to be honest I am not sure which of the two nations is worse, I feel like Russia looks cute compared to horrible things Saudiarabia is known to do.

We blaming government a lot these days but we never see their side? Government is not looking after just single thing but thousands of problems throughout the nation. Money in the central treasury can not be spent just like that or else it would empty the nation in worst possible way. Unrelated but you must have heard what’s going on in Sri Lanka! There is complete state of emergency because government took one wrong step of banning the fertilisers and rest is the story.

You can not expect this with every government. At least our government has thought everything through and not messing up to the level of emergency in the country!

There are some golden days when we enjoy stimulus, government schemes, rebates on taxes so I’m sure there will be times when government has to increase the supply chain costs to recover.

Moreover, it could be international trades that’s getting costly sometimes so ultimately the cost has to be paid by us. It’s really sophisticated and we only care about 50% hike in prices for rice and chocolate bar.

Not to eat 3 times a day is not a new thing anymore but starting when the price starts to get higher, people are now conserving their food and money and they eat like 2 times a day. There are also people that are not poor but simply diet and they don't eat 3 times a day. That doesn't harm your body anyway but in fact it can have some great benefits because the calories that you consume are now lesser.

Wars might have an impact to to this issue but even without wars, we can still expect an issue like this not only in German but to all parts of the world. There's a sanction that is already imposed in the hopes that the war would stop and we can feel a little relief after that.

The basic needs of humans are gas and oil...

Honestly, I am sad to see German citizens who complain that food prices have increased dramatically during the sanctions imposed by their country on Russia. I know that the german government imposed sanctions on russia so that putin can stop his madness, hopefully other countries can help the difficulties that germany is facing.

I don't quite understand your sentence, it seems to me to be irony. If so, I'd like to specify that gas and oil are not basic needs but eating, heating in winter, and cooking (without having to make fire with wood) are basic needs or are very close to them.

The food we eat is transported thanks to oil, and in order to mass produce it, oil is also used.


You don't know much about Europe, do you? Germany is the most economically powerful country in Europe, and there are countries where they are even worse, as would be the southern countries, although this would be largely due to pre-war problems, but the other European countries are not going to help Germany, in order to help them they would have to be economically better off, and that is not the case.

It's not just because of the increasing prices of commodities from the Energy Sector. The price of Fertilizer, and other commodities related to the Agricultural market has been increasing too. Russia is the largest exporter of fertilizer, now it's banned from the world market.

Russia does not have a positive future.  In the east, it borders on the insidious China, in the south - on the bloodthirsty Taliban. 

It was in the West that she could find friends and allies.  But it is in the west that terrible battles are now taking place.  And it is with the EU countries that an economic war is being waged.  This is complete madness... 

Perhaps, immediately after the collapse of the USSR, Western countries should have offered Russia a clear and concrete step-by-step plan for its integration into the Western world? 

Perhaps this would have avoided the catastrophe that has occurred now? 

Europe (together with Ukraine) and Russia could become a very convenient, rich, cultural and technological territory if they cooperated rather than antagonized.

In the East, China is actually Russia's ally. Russia has already started a trade deal, and has just delivered China's order of oil and coal all paid in Yuan. I believe this will only be one of the actions that will start to weaken the U.S. Dollar's position as a world reserve currency.

Civilizationally, China and Russia are absolutely alien to each other.

Russian children read novels by Frenchman Jules Verne, Scotsman Robert Lewis Stevenson, Englishman Daniel Defoe, Americans Harry Harrison and Robert Sheckley, Swede Astrid Lindgren, German Brothers Grimm.  They do not read Chinese fairy tales and novels.  

China is Russia's neighbor.  However, its volume of trade with Russia is only 3 percent.  

China's main trading partners are the US, the EU and Japan.  

China has the potential to occupy most of Russia.  From this step, he (perhaps) is kept only by the fact that the Russian Federation has nuclear weapons.  

China has no reason to quarrel with its main trading partners over Russia.  Strategically, it is important for China to weaken the economic and military power of Russia.  

In fact, Russia has already concluded long-term agreements with China on the sale of cheap gas and the supply of timber.  What else can Russia give to China?

Wow. This is wild, wild stuff.

However, it is entirely expected. The traditional model of central banking simply does not work when it comes to supply chain shortages and sudden upswings in prices.

They have spent the past decade fighting deflation, only to realise way too late that they probably should have hiked interest rates a lot sooner instead of going into the negatives.

I'm also going to share an article regarding inflation in Germany that differs a bit from the article OP shared. Not since 1990 has inflation in Germany reached a maximum like it is now.
In February, it stood at 5.1% due to the appearance of the new Omicron variant and what it implies economically when health comes first. With respect to the end of March, it stood at 7.3% due to Russia's war against Ukraine and the economic consequences of Russia's sanctions and its energy dependence.
Experts point out that energy production must be increased in order to meet demand due to the current crisis.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/germany-inflation-hits-30-year-high-at-73-growth-outlook-dims/a-61301850 (https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/germany-inflation-hits-30-year-high-at-73-growth-outlook-dims/a-61301850)

I didn’t read this entire thread so I don’t know if someone above me commented on the German 50% food hike however on Twitter they basically said it’s click bait mostly.

Most items went up by 10-20% and the food is still cheaper there than rest of Europe. There was maybe an item or two which increases by 50% however it’s not every single item.

This is nothing new. Wherever you are in the world we all know that groceries went up by maybe 20-30 % in the last few months. Hopefully it doesn’t get any worse than it is right now.

i thought the increase in food prices only happened in my country but it seems that many countries are experiencing it, especially Germany.  a few days ago our head of state announced that a 30% increase in food prices was inevitable, This happened because following world oil prices and also delays in the distribution of oil to the country, here people's income did not increase but expenses increased, hopefully the best solution is found.

Thanks for the history lesson. But I have only posted facts. Russia and China has indeed started a trade agreement between each other for Russia to sell oil and coal to China, everything paid in Yuan. What China might be trying to do is they're starting to position the Yuan as the replacement of the U.S. Dollar as "the currency" for World Trade. 8)

I wholeheartedly agree with you. The problem with inflation is that the government must exhaust all the possible remedies to combat the rising of prices. This may include issuing of government bonds, incentivizing spending, printing money, etc. (though the latter method is very risky).

Inflation is not bad perse, in fact, the government has a standard of inflation rate that must be controlled at a certain rate. If this goes out of control, prices of all commodities would increase and this could be dangerous to the economy of one's country- which is what happening in Germany.

China is in any case (unlike Germany) a beneficiary in this situation.  

Yes, he will buy oil and coal in Russia for yuan (he may also be interested in palladium, which is widely used in electronics).  Russia will receive foreign exchange earnings in yuan.  With these yuan, she will buy Xiaomi smartphones and Honor laptops from China.  

But that won't solve her problem.  

For the development of Russia, advanced technological equipment is needed - machine tools, the most modern equipment for oil and gas production, etc. The main technologies are Western.  The Chinese are incredibly systematic and diligent, but they are completely lacking in creativity. In Chinese smartphones, most components are of Western origin.

China is certainly expanding its influence in the world (including in the financial sector).  But he does it slowly, applying the principle of soft power.

China is not an ally of Russia.  He is her direct competitor.

Germany is Russia's natural ally and its best trading partner.

Food prices are quite low in Germany. If you cook yourself and don't eat at restaurants, at the moment €170/month is enough to eat normal healthy food. For €300/month you can have a great menu including meat, dairy, fruit, vegetable, bakery, sweeties, and fish. I am into bodybuilding and €300/month is enough for me to keep 40/40/20 Protein/Carb/Fat ratio and I consume 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. My diet mostly includes chicken fillet, eggs, milk, oatmeal, fruit and vegetables.

Even a 50% rise won't be a catastrophe for germans but if you are into nightlife, spend money on drinks, and have fun with girls, then the quality of life will decline a little.

But Germany is a very unique country with its people. I'll say that this country is capable of doing unimaginable things in a very short time if there is a need of them. World War 2 is a bad example from me but that moment from history proves what are the capabilities of the Germany and germans.

Despite the fact that I love Germany, Angela Merkel's politics is what leads us and the whole world in the current situation. Instead of lessening the demand on Russian gas, Germany approved the development of Nord Stream 2. It would be economically and financially beneficial for Germany if Russia was a good country but when you see for years that it invaded two countries in six years (In 2008 -Georgia and 2014 - Crimea) and it's not even stopping, then definitely you should abandon them and collaborate with friendly and stable countries. As a result, Germany and the Europe made Russia rich by increasing demand on Russian gas & oil. It's very sad for me to say but the current war is funded by Europe and they knew it!

In fact, in historical terms, food is cheaper than ever around the world thanks to mass production. But here the issue is that many people live paycheck to paycheck, and let's assume that a family that spends 400 euros on food, if food becomes 550 euros, they won't be able to make ends meet. They are going to have to buy cheaper things or cut back elsewhere if they can. This also means that people who spend a small amount of money on savings will not be able to continue saving. And let's remember that the rise in prices does not only affect food, it is generalized.


Yes, I think you are right. The missiles falling in ukraine have been paid for at least in good part with European money buying gas. Looking at it in perspective, giving up nuclear and coal to become overly dependent on Russian gas was insane. Which Trump warned about, by the way, and was laughed at and called crazy. Not that I agree with everything Trump said, but he got this one right.

Even some Asian countries are experiencing the same thing. The government is trying to solve this issue but they're just providing a short time solution which sometimes makes the situation worse. From the oil price hike to other necessities, poor people are suffering and the bad thing is, huge businesses are just taking advantage of it.

Unlike the USA, you won't get bankrupt in Germany if you need medical help, things work a little bit differently there. You give half of your earnings to the government, yes, half of your earnings when you have a normal wage. But at the end of the day, we have great public transport and social security. Do you need medical help? No problem, everything will be covered, you just need to chill and relax, doctors will take care of everything. You can choose your doctor for more comfort!
I have never used my health insurance, I am really serious :D, but most of my friends are satisfied with our healthcare system.

Some people won't be able to save money but it's the price we have to pay because of sanctions. Is it good in long-term? Definitely, the more independent you are the better.

I even think that it may be better if some of our habits change. Unlike Europe, in Asia families live together. Implementing of this habit can lessen the costs and improve/keep current quality of life because rent is a serious waste of money and by getting the rid of rent payments, saved money can outweigh the cons of increased food prices.

Without a doubt, all our actions have some unintended consequences, even if we admit the sanctions against Russia were necessary this will make the alliance between Russia and China even stronger than it was in the past and it will weaken the system in which the dollar is the reserve currency of the world.

If at some point countries holding huge reserves of dollars think there is the slightest possibility the system is at risk then they will begin to spend their dollars on anything they can buy, producing massive inflation, especially at the United States.

At this point, China and Japan are the two countries who hold the largest amount of USD in their forex reserves. After witnessing what happened to Russia, I guess China will be moving towards replacing some of these reserves with other currencies, or with bullion metals such as gold or platinum. Russia already converted a part of their reserves to gold many years ago, and currently they are benefitting massively from it. Anyway, China has been planning the invasion of Taiwan for some time now, and they are closely monitoring what is happening in Ukraine.

Yes, prices will indeed go up. The main suppliers of wheat are Ukraine and Russia. In Ukraine, wheat will not grow this year. In Russia, there is a ban on the export of wheat from the country. Fertilizers for growing wheat are also produced in Russia. Prices will soar up and will not fall in the coming years. The future of European countries is not very cheerful :'(

It's not only Germany affected by this massive increase, every country in Europe will have a similar issue. Not only that, richer countries tend to suffer the least in these massive inflationary spirals, which have been made even worse by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That means that poorer or less developed countries are going to see much larger increases in their food costs. This seems like an inevitable outcome after the disruption of Covid, because money has been so cheap for such a long time, when supply chains struggled and people were coming out of the pandemic with extra savings, it was almost the "perfect storm" of bad outcomes. Unfortunately lots of political moves, like trying to prop up housing markets when they were already skyrocketing, end up in much worse outcomes later on.

Well I guess it's not only European countries that get the effect from Russia and Ukraine, in my country a lot of things are increasing like oil, food, and even our tax lmao. I don't know if we're going to have another crisis but we just can be prepared by buying bitcoin since it can help us when our fiat is not worth it anymore.

The impact of fertilizer shortage will be felt more. A large part of the global supply of fertilizer and raw materials used to produce it comes from Russia and Belarus. Both these nations are under embargoes and therefore a shortfall can be observed in the supply. And regarding the wheat crop, there is a 50% reduction in output from Ukraine, as the eastern and southern portions are unproductive this year. I am not sure whether there is any export ban in Russia, but I have seen news reports of Russian wheat being exported to Syria and Egypt.

Rising fuel prices will increase production and transportation costs, so all commodities will be priced higher. No one else, it is the people who will bear the consequences.

The US sanctions against Venezuela, have severely damaged their oil and gas industry and are unlikely to recover in the short term. Many experts think it will take several years for Venezuela to recover its oil industry and that will not help the current situation.
I agree that this is America's war with Russia, the EU and Ukraine are just a pawn on the chessboard. The people of the EU and Ukraine are going through miserable days because of US sanctions, the US government does not care about the safety of the EU people, they just try to defy tricks to sink the Russian economy.

its war effect and spread around the world,alot innocent person get this negative effect moreover to citizen that in poverty. alot countries give economic sanction to Russia meanwhile actually they need oil and gas which is could no supply yet from other countries, it make production cost soar and everything rise too. if this condition continues and not stopped immediately, we will face economi crisis where purchasing power will decrease.

This seems pretty crazy that food prices would rise this much. I’m sure that the supply chain is at least half of the issue there with those rising prices.

We are having a similar issues with food prices here in the United States. While inflation is up around eight or nine percent on average, some food prices are much higher. For example meats and seafood are up as much as 30% year over year, which is insane. We are also simply having a hard time keeping things in stock consistently, it’s driving me insane.

The ban on the export of food and fertilizer from Russia was introduced until August. But Syria and Egypt have nothing to worry about, the ban only applies to unfriendly countries, which do not include African countries. Russia will not allow a humanitarian crisis in Africa related to food shortages, because it knows how much many of the countries of the black continent depend on food supplies from Russia.

Russian farmers invested heavily in the grains sector ever since 2014 and these sort of export bans can be self-defeating for them. African nations alone can't make up for all the shortfall in demand coming from Europe. BTW, the rise in food prices is impacting everyone. And it will have political consequences. Here in India, the ruling party is now facing a lot of criticism for failing to control the rising inflation rate. And even in the US, elections are due in less than 7 months, and the GOP seems to be in a position to wrest back the control of the senate.

Small farmers are focused on the local domestic market, and large agricultural complexes are under state protection, so neither one nor the other will suffer from the ban on food exports. Plus, the ban is not complete, but only in order not to jeopardize the food security of Russia, therefore, through the decision of the government commission, exceptions are possible for friendly countries. After 2014, Russia made a huge breakthrough in this direction and instead of a food importer, it became a major exporter. The current ban was introduced until August, that is, before the harvest of a new crop, according to its results and depending on the development of the situation in Ukraine, it will be revised in August.

Judging by your previous messages, you yourself know everything about fertilizers, without fertilizers from Russia, the harvest will be lower. Plus, the sowing campaign has already been disrupted in Ukraine and there will be no harvest there this year, at all. These are large shortfalls, and someone will have to compensate for them in order to avoid a humanitarian crisis with hunger. I would not worry too much about the lack of demand, food is not a luxury, but a first necessity. People all over the world have a strange irrational habit of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner - and so every day. There are rumors that there are Yogis in India who eat sunlight, but I do not know them personally.

As far as I know, Russia imports seeds for agriculture from other countries. 

In addition, agriculture uses imported harvesting equipment, as well as Russian equipment, but with the presence of foreign components. 

Some foodstuffs Russia does not produce in the required quantity to provide for its population - for example, beef (in India, as far as I know, cows are not eaten, and in Russia this is one of the main sources of meat). 

A similar situation with the production of milk - Russia imports the semen of bulls manufacturers.  Without semen imports, cows will produce less milk and the milk will have a low percentage of fat. 

In addition, Russia is now in a critical situation with the production of railway cars and trains.  Even with a good harvest, it is not a fact that the grain will be able to be delivered to the granary. 

In addition, bans have been introduced on the entry of Russian ships into many seaports.  This will lead to a significant increase in the cost of the transportation process. 

All this suggests that agricultural production in the Russian Federation will decline. 

The volume of food exports from Russia will also decrease. 

Selling prices for Russian agricultural products will rise.

Well.. I know that Uralkali and Belaruskali are some of the largest producers of potash fertilizers in the world. Now both these companies are sanctioned by the Western government (the latter one many months ago, after the post-election violence in Belarus). Other leading Potash manufacturers (especially Canada and China), may have some spare capacity, but they are in no position to completely replace the Russian/Belarussian production (~40% of the global supply). The impact of reduced grain production from Ukraine, and reduced productivity from elsewhere due to fertilizer shortage will be noticeable from next year onwards.

You are right, this year will not be so noticeable yet, and next year there will be a strong reduction in yields - in the West from the lack of Russian and Belarusian fertilizers and from saving the gas from which these fertilizers are made. In Russia, due to the transition to domestic seed material, which is worse in quality. It looks like China knew something when it accumulated huge stocks of food all last year.

China is without a doubt watching what is happening at Ukraine with deep interest since it is not a secret they have their own designs at Taiwan, however if they decided to actually go through them the world will be in a complete chaos.

If the US and their allies tried to do something similar to what they are doing against Russia, China could implement sanctions that would also cripple them economically so I am not so sure that anyone would take the risk to sanction China under that scenario.

US has already imposed sanctions on China if I'm not mistaken during the time of Trump and we did feel the impact of it, before the pandemic.

And yes, the China-Russia relationship is deep, China not willing to fall into the pressures of the West to talk to Russia to stop the war, on the contrary, China thinks that it was NATO that drove Russia to attack Ukraine. Maybe China was displeased by the Russian's invasion, but it seems that they cover Russia's back because they have the same enemy, the US and it's allies.

I don't think the situation will change soon. Difficult years are ahead and this increase in prices will affect everyone. Now people are forced to give up personal cars, but what will happen tomorrow? We can give up meat, alcohol, light, heat, but is that good? This is not a voluntary choice of a person. The government is forcing people to do it. All signs point to a major crisis ahead. I wonder how long the patience of ordinary people will last and why should they endure it?

I think here Putin is playing his diplomatic tricks. And it didn't happen suddenly. It has many years of planning. Russia has built them in such a way that without the raw materials they produce, not only Germans but the whole of Europe is incapable. About 20 percent of Europe's food products and raw materials are exported from Russia. And these prices have risen because of the closure of these exports.

This is a worldwide practice. Basically, Russia can threaten Europe with biofuels, coal and oil have almost no pressure on Europe, only gas. The rest of the products have already been abandoned, now it is fashionable. Now they are trying to get away from dependence on gas. I think it will take several years, I don’t think that this winter in Europe it will be warm in houses.