ANNUAL food price inflation surged from 1.3 per cent in August to 2.2 per cent in September, a survey shows, underlining pressure on households from higher import costs caused by sterling’s post-Brexit vote weakness.
The British Retail Consortium, publishing the survey conducted with market researcher Nielsen, noted the annual inflation rate for fresh food had surged from 0.8 per cent in August to 1.8 per cent.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “We are starting to head out of the UK season for some vegetables and, as we flagged last month, that means enhanced exposure of food prices to the sterling exchange rate.”
Overall annual UK shop-price deflation eased to just 0.1 per cent from 0.3 per cent in August.
Scottish Retail Consortium director David Lonsdale said: “Shop prices in Scotland are on the cusp of returning to inflationary territory, after four years of falling prices.”
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