© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Individuals store at a grocery market, in London, Britain Could 6, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi
By James Davey
LONDON (Reuters) – British grocery inflation eased barely for the second month in a row in Could however remained near report highs, trade information confirmed on Tuesday, offering little consolation for shoppers grappling with a cost-of-living disaster.
Market researcher Kantar stated annual grocery inflation was 17.2% within the 4 weeks to Could 14, and whereas that was down from 17.3% in its April information set, it was the third quickest fee it has recorded since 2008.
It stated UK households now face a further 833 kilos ($1,051) on their annual buying payments if they don’t change their behaviour to chop prices.
It stated costs are rising quickest in merchandise akin to eggs and ambient cooking sauces.
The Kantar information for Could offers the hottest snapshot of UK grocery inflation.
Official UK information printed final month confirmed total client worth inflation fell to 10.1% in March. Nonetheless, costs of meals and non-alcoholic drinks had been 19.1% greater in March than a 12 months earlier, the most important such rise since August 1977. Official information for April will probably be printed on Wednesday.
The Financial institution of England stated earlier this month it anticipated total inflation to fall extra slowly than it had hoped, principally as a consequence of unexpectedly large and chronic rises in meals costs.
Meals retailers have stated they count on costs to rise in 2023 total however with the speed of inflation declining by way of the 12 months.
Costs for some merchandise that had seen the sharpest rises, akin to milk, butter, bread, pasta, vegetable and sunflower oil, have began to fall.
Kantar stated the typical value of 4 pints of milk has come down by 8 pence since final month, however famous costs are nonetheless 30 pence greater than this time final 12 months.
It once more highlighted that customers are skirting greater costs by selecting extra own-label items, gross sales of which grew by 15.2% over the month, nearly double that of branded merchandise which rose by 8.3%.
Kantar stated total grocery gross sales rose 10.8% over the 4 weeks year-on-year, with gross sales up 16% throughout the week of King Charles’ coronation, with an additional 218 million kilos spent.
German owned discounters Aldi and Lidl had been once more the quickest rising grocers, with gross sales progress of 24.0% and 23.2% respectively.
UK grocers’ market share and gross sales progress (%)
Market share Market share % change in
12 wks to 12 wks to gross sales
Could 14 2023 Could 15 2022 (yr-on-yr)
Tesco (OTC:) 27.1 27.4 8.9
Sainsbury’s 14.8 14.8 10.5
Asda 13.9 13.8 10.6
Aldi 10.1 9.0 24.0
Morrisons 8.7 9.5 0.6
Lidl 7.7 6.9 23.2
Co-operative 5.7 6.1 2.9
Waitrose 4.6 4.9 4.8
Iceland 2.3 2.3 9.1
Ocado (LON:) 1.7 1.7 5.6
Supply: Kantar
($1 = 0.7923 kilos)
