Shop price inflation eases – but food costs are still up from a year ago

Store price inflation eased in February, but figures show consumers are still paying 3.5 per cent more for food than a year ago.

Overall store inflation fell slightly to 1.1 per cent from 1.5 per cent in January, in line with the three-month average of 1.1 per cent, as intense competition between retailers kept price rises in check and customers took advantage of health, beauty and fashion promotions, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NIQ.

Prices of products other than food decreased by 0.1 percent on an annual basis; This is a significant decrease from January’s 0.3 percent growth.

While overall food inflation fell slightly to 3.5 percent from 3.9 percent in January, fresh food prices remained 4.3 percent higher than last February; That’s a slight decrease from January’s 4.4 percent and above the three-month average of 4.2 percent.

But falling global costs reduced ambient food inflation to 2.3 percent; This is the lowest level in four years and a significant drop from 3.1 percent in January.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Households received welcome relief as shop price inflation eased in February.

“While the direction of travel is promising, prices are still rising and many consumers are under pressure.”

Mike Watkins, Head of Retail and Business Insight at NIQ, said: “Since the start of the year we have seen some competitive pricing across both food and non-food channels which has helped reduce inflation.

“While inclement weather and poor sentiment have made consumer demand highly unpredictable for retailers, at least shoppers are now seeing some of the cost-of-living pressures starting to ease.”