Higher food costs driving retail inflation

Soaring food costs have pushed up overall UK retail prices for February, figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show.

Retail prices are 1.3 per cent higher in February than a year ago, the industry body said.

Food inflation accelerated to its highest rate since the BRC started collating data, rising to 4.6 per cent compared to a year ago.

Fresh food price inflation was particularly high and increased by 5.1 per cent in February compared to a year ago, a considerable increase from 4.3 per cent in January.

The rise in prices is due to higher commodity costs, the BRC said, which are now starting to filter through to the consumer.

The BRC's new director general, Stephen Robertson, said: "Retailers are suffering the effects of some unavoidable rising costs, such as higher global commodity prices, but are doing everything they can to shield their customers from these rises."

Non-food deflation continued, however, with prices 0.3 per cent lower in February compared to the previous year, increasing from January's year-on-year fall of 0.2 per cent.

Prices continue to come down, particularly in electricals, which declined by five per cent compared to last year.

Clothing and footwear also saw a drop of three per cent as retailers offered discounts to tempt shoppers back to the high street.