UK residents have been warned about food prices rising during the second half of this year.
The rises are "primarily" driven by higher costs for butter, cheese, eggs, and bread, according to the figures on Tuesday.
Other breakfast essentials, such as cereals and coffee, continue to rise in price, too.
British Retail Consortium (BRC) CEO Helen Dickinson said inflation would likely “rise across the board as the year progresses, with geopolitical tensions running high and the imminent £7bn increase in costs from the autumn budget."
This includes an increase in NI (National Insurance) paid by employers from April.
Why is this breaking news? Butter is £5 and I have to wait 3-5 business weeks for a gp appointment. Please concentrate! https://t.co/ceEupYxDDm
— Wray’s Niece 🇯🇲 (@ARD28X) January 2, 2025
She continued: “We expect food prices to be over 4% up by the second half of the year.
“If the Government wants to keep inflation at bay, enable retailers to focus on growth, and help households, it must mitigate the swathe of costs facing the industry.
“It can start by ensuring no shop ends up paying more than they already do under the new business rates proposals, and delaying the new packaging taxes.”
Mike Watkins, NIQ head of retailer and business insight, believes food inflation will lead to shoppers using loyalty scheme discounts.
He said: “With many household bills increasing over the next few weeks, shoppers will be looking carefully at their discretionary spend and this may help keep prices lower at non-food retailers.
“However, the increase in food inflation is likely to encourage even more shoppers to seek out the savings available from supermarket loyalty schemes.”
Breakfast in particular got more expensive in January “as butter, cheese, eggs, bread and cereals all saw price hikes”, according to Dickinson.
“Climbing global coffee prices could threaten to push the morning costs higher in the coming months,” she added.
Fresh food inflation increased to 1.5% year on year in February, above January’s 0.9% and the three-month average of 1.2%.
Non-food was in 2.1% deflation year on year in February, compared with –1.8% in January.
