Grocery price inflation falls for fifth month in a row, retail data suggests
The cost of staples including milk and sunflower oil is now less than in the spring, closely watched data from Kantar Worldpanel found. Researchers also said the UK’s recent wet weather contributed to a fall in sales of ice cream and soft drinks.
Grocery price inflation has eased for the fifth month in a row – as the cost of some staples come down.
Closely watched data from Kantar Worldpanel, which tracks supermarket sales and bills, found that while the expense of a food shop is still higher than last year, the pace of price rises has been slowing down this summer.
Its researchers reported a grocery price inflation rate of 12.7% in the four weeks to 6 August – a 2.2 percentage point drop from the month before.
Kantar said a fall in the cost of some staples was a factor.
Items that have seen a price reduction include:
- Pint of milk: £1.50 down from £1.69 in March
- Litre of sunflower oil: £2.19 down from £2.41 in the spring
Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight, Fraser McKevitt, said: “The latest slowdown in price rises is the second sharpest monthly fall since we started monitoring grocery inflation in this way back in 2008.
“Prices are still up year on year across every supermarket shelf, but consumers will have been relieved to see the cost of some staple goods starting to edge down compared with earlier in 2023.”
He said the average increase in households’ weekly grocery shop is £5.13, when compared with last year.
Researchers also found that the recent wet weather across much of the UK had an impact on supermarkets’ figures in July.
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