the reason why prices are so inflated on most common goods is because we've created several layers of useless administration between the producer and consumer that each scalp a bit of the final cost (including the government at every step of the transaction as "value added tax"). if you know a farmer personally, you will be able to buy premium grade animal products for 20-30% of supermarket price, because there are no intervening middle managers that need their pound of flesh. same with every other industry. the reason why mass produced crap is cheaper, on the other hand, is because of economies of scale (a factory in china can produce 100,000 knives a day because they have expensive automated equipment that would be unaffordable to a small craftsman who makes 3 knives a day).
United Kingdom