Supermarket shoppers are being battered by record food price rises with the soaring cost of kitchen essentials such as eggs, milk and cheese adding more than £800 to annual bills, new figures have revealed.
The latest data showed there had been no respite for hard-pressed consumers with grocery price inflation rising from 17.1 per cent to an all-time high of 17.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to March 19.
It means that the same food and drink staples would cost £837 more over 12 months than in the previous year, although in reality shoppers were cutting back, switching to cheaper stores such as Aldi and Lidl and “trading down to own brand lines”.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at market analysts Kantar, which compiled the figures, said: “It’s more bad news for the British public, who are experiencing the ninth month of double-digit grocery price inflation. However, shoppers are taking action and clearly hunting around for the best value. Footfall was up in every single grocer this month, with households going to the shops just over four times per week in March. Apart from Christmas, that’s the highest frequency we’ve seen since the start of the pandemic.”
The figures came after last week’s shock rise in the overall rate of inflation with the Consumer Prices Index confounding City forecasts by going up from 10.1 per cent to 10.4 per cent in February. Raging food inflation was largely responsible for the surprise reverse, which was followed by another hike in the Bank of England’s interest rate to 4.25 per cent.
Separate figures last night from the British Retail Consortium and market researchers NielsenIQ painted a similar picture with the price of fresh food currently 17 per cent higher than last March — the highest rate on record.
As well as higher energy and transport costs the price rises have been fuelled by poor harvests in Spain and north Africa during the winter that led to shortages of tomatoes, lettuces and fruit ahead of the UK growing season. The severe impact of higher supermarket prices was revealed in separate research showing that 39 per cent of British consumers were worried about being able to put enough food on the table, while one in four Britons were prioritising feeding others before themselves. Among those aged 18 to 34 — who grew up in an era of stable prices — more than half said food inflation had harmed their mental health and the quality of their diet.
Mohsin Rashid, chief executive of consumer app ZIPZERO, which commissioned the poll, said: “Food inflation is impacting every household in the UK. This research shows that its consequences are far more devastating and far-reaching than any could have predicted; in fact, it is fundamentally changing the nature of British society.
“With two in five adults worried about putting food on the table and a quarter prioritising feeding others over themselves, living standards in Britain today are bordering on a public health crisis and significant doubt is raised over what it means for the UK to be a developed economy in 2023.”
The Kantar research also showed how discounters Lidl and Aldi were continuing to gain customers at the expense of their bigger supermarket rivals.
Sue Davies, head of food policy, at consumer group Which?, said: “Supermarkets must ensure everyone has access to basic affordable food with clear unit pricing to help shoppers to compare items and find the best value option for them. Budget ranges also need to be more widely available across stores, so consumers are not forced to pay over the odds to put healthy food on the table.”
It came as the governor of the Bank of England told MPs the UK banking system was facing “a period of very heightened tension” but was not in a similar position to the 2008 financial crisis. Andrew Bailey also said that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was the “fastest passage from health to death” since Barings failed in 1995.
He told the Treasury committee: “I don’t think we are at all in the place we were in 2007/8 but we have to be very vigilant. We are in a period of very heightened tension and alertness.”
