Costs of groceries/food in Thailand

[buksida]

I've never understood the pricing structure of groceries and food in Thailand, but I know it is comparatively expensive. Went to Makro yesterday while doing my 90 day run as we usually do and wanted to pick up some things. I've always come to the conclusion that anything imported or anything that your average Thai doesn't readily eat is price hiked to hell, but there are a few that just don't make sense from my observations.

Cereals - Thais eat rice for breakfast so why are rolled oats (to make porridge) 87 baht a kilo whereas granola is closer to 600 baht a kilo?
Tea - Thais prefer coffee but there are plenty of Chinese here. Regular Lipton tea is cheap yet healthier green tea is almost triple the price.
Fruit juice - The stuff grows on trees here and is virtually free, yet fruit juice in a carton is the same price or more than it is in the west where it is imported.

I've also noticed a trend that the cheap stuff is generally sugar/fat/msg-loaded and bad for you, and anything generally marketed as 'healthy' is priced off the shelf. Maybe I notice it more now that I'm trying to avoid unhealthy foods - but its as if 'they' want people to live unhealthy lives and eat cheap shite.

Trying to think of more examples but can't offhand - just observations for discussion if you have any more.

[Dannie Boy]

If I thought hard I could probably come up with more examples, but local yogurt (a milk based product) is relatively cheap, whereas milk is about double that in the UK, similar to cream and butter which are also very expensive.

[handdrummer]

Everything in packages is more expensive and I've found that the cheaper packaged goods; German Corn Flakes for example have disappeared and Kellogg's dominates the shelves.

Thai juices are, depending upon the brand, sell for around 34-45 baht a carton. Much cheaper than in the US.
Fresh bread at Yamazaki, keeps increasing in price.

The additives in packaged food, especially sugar, gets you addicted to the food and keeps you spending more.

As much as I can, I buy fresh food and stay away from food in boxes and cans. More difficult here than in the West but that's due to my tastes.

Inflation is rearing it's ugly head and the cost of living is rising. That's beyond our control.

When I was a child someone should have told me, forget about enjoying your life now, just make a lot of money and enjoy it later. Of course I wouldn't have listened. Does anyone?

[KhunLA]

Not just food, other stuff; camera & hard drives made here are more expensive than in USA.

A lot of my Sony camera stuff is made in Thailand, and I'm thrilled if I can get close to the USA price. 15-20% more here, but made here. If lucky, the grey market might match the US price. Same if made in China or Japan, even though we as so much closer. Same with some hard drives, and worst, ones sent to USA, have better specs, while being cheaper or at least the same price. It's mind boggling.

Hard to find things not sold at MSRP+. Only sales seem to be from the manufacturers, in which most chains then have the same sale. Not much vendor competition.

I used to buy nice Thai lump crabmeat in the US, and when I came here, couldn't find it even close to the same price. A lot of the cereals, USA branded, don't come from the USA, but rather Indonesia or Malaysia, aren't fortified with vitamins, but sold at silly price, as if imported from USA. WTF

[buksida]

We know imported stuff is all taxed to shit - but there are also a number of grocery items (such as the fruit juice and tea I mentioned) that are made here and are still very expensive for what they are (a box of 25 green tea bags costing the same as the average daily wage for example).

It is all profit for the monopolies, but not good for the population that is forced to eat unhealthy crap because its less than half the price.