UK food prices rose 9.5 per cent in the last year, with fresh food up 10.8 per cent.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) shop price index rose 3.2 per cent in July – up from a 2.5 per cent rise in June.
Shop prices were pushed up by a 9.5 per cent rise in food prices – up 1.9 per cent from June – while non-food items rose just 0.1 per cent from a year ago and fell 0.8 per cent from June.
Fresh food prices rose 10.8 per cent – as oil price rises hit packaging, transport and refrigeration costs.
Some goods - such as electricals and clothing – are now cheaper than a year ago.
But food prices have been rocketing, despite stores’ attempts to keep a lid on hikes.
“Overall food prices are rising but retailers are keeping increases well below the extra supply and operating costs they face,” said Stephen Robertson, BRC director general.
“Falls in the prices of oil and some world food commodities, such as wheat and soya, provide hope but most retail costs remain sharply up on a year ago and are still rising.”
As prices rise, British shoppers are aiming to spend less at the check out.
Mike Watkins, at Nielsen, which compiles the data, said: “Fifty-five per cent of people are now cutting down on their grocery spend as their other bills increase.
“So, while food inflation increased again in July, savings will need to be made by shopping differently to help pay for the other increases in household spend such as energy and fuel.”
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at Global Insight, suggested the data could provide a greater push for an interest rate rise tomorrow from the Bank of England.
“The marked jump in shop prices in July may exert some late pressure for an interest rate hike on Thursday,” he said.
“However, it remains odds-on that the Bank of England will keep interest rates unchanged as evidence is mounting that the economic downturn is deepening and widening.
“Indeed, we believe that mild recession is now more likely than not.”
7 Comments
This is exactly why families don’t eat much fresh fruit and veg. They cannot really afford it! If the government want people to eat more healthily they should do something about it.
Food…. oh yes, farmers again….
So then, food, which we HAVE to buy,is increasing heftily because of oil prices affecting packaging and transport.
Whereas electrical goods and clothing, which are “luxuries” to some extent, but which also require transport (and packaging in some cases) are getting cheaper?
Forgive me for thinking that there’s some kind of big-business/government conspiracy there!
use your local farmers markets,or farm shops, fresher and cheaper. why not grow your own, next week is national allotments week. harold it is easy to blame farmers but you are so wrong. the supermarkets screw the price right down for farmers and growers and then screw us at the checkout. if the supermarkets could be cut out of the sales, prices would tumble
Hang on, oil prices are dropping.
A month ago we were looking at $145 for a barrel, and petrol at 119.9p a ltr, today it’s $118.70 a barrel and 110.9p a ltr, hopefully this trend will continue, we just need to make sure that companies drop their prices with the decline.
Shropshire Saddler,
You make an interesting point about electrical goods coming down in price.
I have been in the electronics, and related industries for over 40 years, and the fact is that Electrical goods have ALWAYS been coming down in price.
In 1973, (when I worked at Decca as a Colour TV circuit designer) a colour TV sold for about £330-350., which was somewhere about 1/3 to a 1/4 of the price of an average family car.
NOW look what you can buy a “similar” specification TV for (in those days NO tv had remote control, stereo sound, text, onscreen display etc - which even the cheapest sets now have).
You can buy a perfectly good TV for FAR less than £350 !! - never mind all the other electronic goods that far surpass this technology! - and THATS LESS than it cost 35 years ago !!!!
Imagine if we could buy other products today at 1973 prices!!
e.g: Petrol, 33p a gallon, House, cc £5000
So WHY are electronic goods so “cheap”?
Mainly it is because they are all made in the far east. (As is clothing to a large extent)
This process started long ago, even in the Mid 70’s when I was still working on TV design, the industry was inexorably being transferred to the far east, that is Japan, and Taiwan at that time.
Labour costs were (and are) so much cheaper there, and the constant development of electronic techniques & components has enabled far more technology to be squeezed into a smaller space, and the the production of electronic goods is been highly automated.
So the price gets ever “cheaper”.
Look at the technology in a PC, or laptop, look at the development of electronic goods over the past 35 years or so. The pace of development is truly staggering.
Maybe if some of this rubbed of onto other (food?) industries ???
Decca in Bridgnorth was sold to Tatung (Taiwanese company) in June 1980, and so … you can see how this process has escalated to the present day.
Imagine if all other products and services had gone the same way !
Imagine Banking, Legal services, Insurance Other manfacturing industry, etc, all being transferred in the same time frame to Japan, Taiwan, China, etc …
Well … SOMEHOW, I DON’T think that’ll happen !
time for fat britain to go on a diet me thinks (and stop wasting so much food)