IT'S enough to make you choke on your toast - it has emerged that Vegemite, of all things, is now much cheaper overseas than here.

After revealing earlier today the cost of goods in Australia is stratospheric when measured against similar nations, a new comparison by News Limited had found that our iconic breakfast spread is nearly 40 per cent more expensive here than in Britain.



A 220g jar of Vegemite costs £1.97 at UK supermarket chain ASDA and £1.98 at rivals Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, according to the grocery comparison site mysupermarkets.co.uk. Its average price over the past year is also £1.98.





Converted into our currency at the prevailing exchange rate – one pound equals 1.529 Australian dollars – that jar costs $3.01.



The same jar costs $4.17 at Coles, which is 39 per cent more than the UK price.



The unit price – the cost per 100g – of the UK Vegemite is $1.37. The Aussie price is $1.90 per 100g.



The most comparable jar sold by Woolworths is 280g for $5.36, or $1.91 per 100g.



News Limited this morning asked Kraft Foods Australia why Vegemite – which is made here – costs less in the UK.



A spokeswoman for Kraft Foods said: “It appears that the current batch of Vegemite available for sale in the UK was purchased at a time when the Australian dollar versus the British pound appreciated by around 10 per cent.

“Given the long-shelf life and iconic nature of Vegemite, it is always in demand overseas, so we often see bulk purchases when there are currency dips.”



At the time of publication News Limited was awaiting an explanation of how much difference this would make to the retail price.



A spokesman for Coles said: “Coles has reduced the cost of shopping for Australian families by hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to our ongoing Down Down price cutting campaign. The price we are able to sell a popular branded product like Vegemite for depends largely on the price we are charged by the manufacturer.”



A spokeswoman for Woolworths said: “We’re a high volume low margin business and our prices are a reflection of the best deal we can get for customers from our suppliers.”



In October last year Woolworths’ new managing director of Australian supermarkets and petrol Tjeerd Jegen publicly chided multinational manufacturers for “unacceptable” prices here.



Mr Jegen said some were still treating Australia "as an island where people probably don't know what the prices are around the world, which is a wrong assumption".

