According to a survey released on Tuesday, British shop price inflation hiked this month and reached the highest value since the record was started in 2005, although there was a slight cooldown in the growth of food prices.
According to the British Retail Consortium, there was a hike in prices at retail chains and supermarkets. In May, it increased by 9.0%, and in April, it increased by 8.8%. The BRC’s gauge fell for food price inflation from 15.7% to 15.4%.
Helen Dickinson, BRC chief executive, said “While overall shop price inflation rose slightly in May, households will welcome food inflation beginning to fall”. She added, “The slow in (food) inflation was largely driven by lower energy and commodity costs starting to filter through to lower prices of some staples including butter, milk, fruit and fish”.
The annual consumer price inflation data was released last week; it includes services and non-shop goods, which include products like energy. It cooled down to 8.7% from 10.1% in April.
The official food inflation cooldown marginally and dropped to 19.1% from 19.2%, as it reached the highest since 1977.
Dickinson said, “While there is reason to believe that food inflation might be peaking, it is vital that the government does not hamper this early progress by piling more costs onto retailers and forcing up the cost of goods even further.”
“The biggest risk comes from policies such as the incoming border checks and reforms to packaging recycling fees.”
The data for the BRC was collected between May 1 and May 7, as the price was collected between these dates.
