Why food is so much cheaper in the UK compared to Malaysia?
With our neighbour Singapore earning their sing dollars at 3.30 higher than the ringgit, fellow Malaysians sure feel like the underdog.
Perhaps the grass is greener on the other side after all. This statement is about to be compounded by a recent video where a young girl shared her experience in the United Kingdom.
According to her, the average salary per hour at a part time job in the UK was able to purchase food stuff to last a week. Yes you read it right. A week!
In the video, she could be seen breaking down the cost, stating that the average wage per hour for a person aged 21 and above was at 12.21 pounds.
Gaji sejam tapi boleh beli makanan untuk seminggu. Besar juga gaji part time dekat UK. Macam macam juga boleh beli.
Kalau dekat Malaysia, 1 jam dalam RM8 boleh lah lepas makan ayam gepuk kot 😭 pic.twitter.com/ilP5jVTGye
— kamaghul deghaman (@kamaghul) July 1, 2025
With just 12.21 pounds, she was able to buy a loaf of bread, a week's worth of chicken meat, some vegetables, several oranges and a kilo of rice.
She added that this was the salary enjoyed by people working in MCDonalds or Starbucks. But why are Britons enjoying such cheap food?
The UK has seen grocery prices drop over time, thanks to a combination of rising household incomes and improvements in food production methods.
Modern farming practices, especially the increased use of machinery, have boosted efficiency and made it easier to maximise crop yields.
Meanwhile, advances in transportation, storage, and distribution have helped streamline the journey from farm to shelf.
Another major factor is the expansion of global trade. The UK now imports roughly 50% of its food—significantly more than the one-third it imported back in 1988.
This allows retailers to bring in products from countries where production is cheaper, bypassing the often higher costs of producing and processing food domestically. —July 1, 2025
Main image: @kamaghul (X)
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