Britons cracking under the price strain of SA-made Christmas favours
The Crackertoa, a locally made Christmas cracker sold in the UK, costs £18 for a pack of six at retailer John Lewis
Johannesburg/London — As the UK hems and haws over the cost of leaving the EU, here’s one Brexit expense it cannot wiggle out of: a pricier Christmas cracker. The cost of the Crackertoa, rated by the Independent newspaper as its top selection because of its unusually loud bang and burst of confetti, rose 50% in 2017 to £18 for a pack of six at retailer John Lewis, the exclusive UK department-store seller. The traditional holiday table decorations — which emit a pop when pulled at each end by diners and contain party favors — have gotten more expensive because of the plunge in the pound since the UK voted to leave the EU. For the Crackertoa, named after the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia, the currency effect is particularly pronounced. That’s because it’s made in SA, where the rand was trading at R24 to the pound when John Lewis ordered its 2016 stock. By January, when the retailer placed its order for this Christmas, it took less than R17 to buy a pound — a gain of about 30%. "That’s...
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