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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Business
Phoebe Jobling

Sainsbury's puts price of pint of milk up to £1.05 for first time as costs continue to soar

Sainsbury's shoppers will now have to pay more than £1 for a pint of milk after the supermarket has upped its price. A pint of milk in Sainsbury's smaller shops now costs £1.05 - which is a record high.

The price hike means Brits are now paying two-and-a-half times more for milk than a year ago, when according to official figures, the price of an average pint of milk was 43p this time last year.

In another blow to shoppers during the cost of living crisis, two pints of milk will now cost £1.35 as inflation hit a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent in July, reports The Mirror.

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The cost for a pint of milk in Sainsbury's bigger supermarkets costs 85p - around a fifth less - while two pints will set you back £1.15.

In a general statement on why prices are different in Sainsbury's large shops compared to its convenience stores, the supermarket giant said: "We're committed to offering competitive prices for our customers. Whether in our supermarkets, online or in a local store, we aim to make our prices clear, fair and appealing to our customers.

"Different sizes of stores have very different operational requirements and running costs. Rents, for example, are often more expensive in our smaller stores due to their locations.

"It can also be more of a challenge to deliver products to our local stores. These, and other factors such as staffing, local rates and a focus on convenience products mean there are differences in price between our supermarkets and local stores."

Elsewhere, the price for one pint of milk in Tesco is the same in both its bigger and smaller shops at 85p because the chain price matches with Aldi, the Sun reports.

All supermarkets across the UK saw increases in the price of milk last month after the rising costs of feed, fertiliser and fuel meant dairy farmers were struggling to make ends meet.

Higher dairy prices have been one of the biggest drivers of food inflation, which now sits at 12.8 per cent, the highest on record since August 2008.

Professor Tim Lang, of City, University of London, told Times Radio the crisis in food prices is now close to the 1840s and “right up here” with the 1970s.

Retailers told the ONS that higher food prices and the impact of cost-of-living affordability concerns have dragged down sales in recent months.

And according to the ONS, the biggest contributor to the most recent rise in inflation was the increasing cost of food.

Chief Economist, Grant Fitzner, said that "food prices rose notably" and that this was also "reflected in higher takeaway prices".

Among some of the foods to have increased the most in price was bread, cereal, milk, cheese, eggs, vegetables, meat, sugar, jam, honey, syrup, chocolate and confectionary. Low-fat milk recorded the highest yearly price increase from across the food category at 34 per cent.

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