UK food prices soar by record 10.6% as Russia-Ukraine war pushes up costs

Meals costs within the UK have soared by a document 10.6% this month, because the battle in Ukraine continues to drive the price of staples reminiscent of margarine, pasta and tinned tomatoes to new highs.

Total, buyers confronted 5.7% inflation in September, up from 5.1% in August, the best month-to-month fee for the reason that British Retail Consortium-NielsenIQ index started in 2005.

Inflation in meals costs this month has climbed previous the 9.3% reported in August, fuelled by the battle in Ukraine, which is continuous to push up the worth of animal feed, fertiliser and vegetable oil, with a knock-on impact on merchandise reminiscent of margarine.

Contemporary meals merchandise value a document 12.1% greater than final 12 months, up from 10.5% in August, the best fee for the class on document.

Inflation for some staples reminiscent of pasta and tinned tomatoes, has reached a document 8.6%, up from 7.8% a month beforehand, the quickest fee of enhance for the class.

Nevertheless, some produce benefited from the lengthy stretch of drought situations over the summer time, with a fall in costs for fruit reminiscent of strawberries, blueberries and tomatoes due to bumper harvests.

Non-food inflation rose from 2.9% in August to three.3%, pushed largely by greater {hardware}, DIY and gardening merchandise hit by rising transport prices.

“Retailers are battling big value pressures from the weak pound, rising power payments and international commodity costs, excessive transport prices, a decent labour market and the cumulative burden of government-imposed prices,” mentioned Helen Dickinson, the chief govt of the BRC. “And, with enterprise charges set to leap by 10% subsequent April, squeezed retailers face a further £800m in unaffordable tax rises.”

Dickinson referred to as on the federal government to freeze enterprise fee rises so retailers can restrict worth rises for buyers.

Greater than three-quarters of shoppers surveyed by NielsenIQ say they anticipate to be “reasonably or severely” affected by the price of dwelling disaster over the subsequent three months. That is up from 57% in its summer time survey.

“So households will probably be in search of financial savings to assist handle their private funds this autumn, and we anticipate buyers to change into extra cautious about discretionary spend, including to strain within the retail sector,” mentioned Mike Watkins, the top of retailer and enterprise perception at NielsenIQ.