> Except that ASDA has to store the cheese in their warehouse, move it onto 
> the shelves at the appropriate time, keep it refrigerated all the while 
> (those big open-front refrigerators must be *so* inefficient!), pay for 
> all their staff's wages, the lighting, rent on the building, etc. That's a 
> hell of a lot of overhead, which all of their competetors also have.

Supermarkets also sell a hell of an amount of stuff each day.  Within the 
first few minutes of being open they probably have enough money to pay all 
their staff and rent the building for the day.  The rest goes towards 
actually buying the goods that they are then selling.  Supermarkets only 
make 3-4% profit, there is no way they could get away with a 10x markup on 
something basic like cheese.

Actually I just googled, and it turns out that the 600 GBP/ton figure you 
quote is actually the *increase* in cheese price.  It was also increased 
back in July by 300 GBP/ton.

> Plus, as I say, I have no idea whether this figure includes transport, 
> which can't be cheap and is also unavoidable cost...

How many kg of cheese can you fit on a truck?  How much does it cost to 
drive a truck across the country?  They manage to sell tins of beans for 19p 
so it can't be that much.

> This amuses me. Given that cheese *is* fat,

Even full-fat cheese is usually only 40-60% fat.  Low fat cheese is often 
around 20% fat.  Still a lot of fat when compared to other products.  IIRC 
you should aim to be eating around 100g of fat per day max.  Check the 
labels.

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