After SCMP.com revealed earlier this month that Starbucks charges its Beijing customers 22 yuan (HK$27.5) for a cup of regular coffee that only sells for 11 yuan in San Francisco, we decided to find out whether such price hikes were commonplace in China. To kick off our price comparison series, we began by checking the prices of 10 grocery items in mid-range supermarkets in Beijing, Hong Kong and London. Using the most up to date exchange rates, we converted each price to HK$. We found that when it comes to grocery shopping, a majority of items in our China basket cost more than those in our Hong Kong and London baskets. Here are our results: Hong Kong Beijing London Bread (500g) 8.6 13.52 9.93 Eggs （10） 23.5 18.65 19.86 Milk (1.5 litre) 32.9 (Kowloon Dairy) 16.5 (Sanyuan Dairy) 11.05 Colgate Toothpaste (160ml) 19.9 19.27 24.84 Head & Shoulders Shampoo 74.9 97.61 96 Thai Jasmine rice (5kg) 82.9 (Premium Select) 102.58 (Qiheyuan) 209 Pork Lean Meat (1 pound) 33.9 31.46 37 Baby Formula Milk powder (900g) 226 (Wyeth Progress Gold Formula milk powder) 322 (Heinz Supergold nurturance2 formula milk powder) 110 (SMA formula milk) Imported Wine 69 (Australian Mcwilliam's Sunstone Shiraz, Year 2011) 233.7 (Chateau La Grange, Year, 2007) 93 (Jacob's creek Shiraz Cabernet) Starbucks coffee beans, 250g 80 105 49.56