FOOD price inflation rose to 2.9% in September, up from 2.5% in August, driven by price rises in ambient foods, soft drinks, sugar, jam and chocolate, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Overall shop prices (food and non-food) saw annual deflation for the fifth consecutive month in September, prices dropped 0.2% year on year.
Helen Dickinson, British Retail Consortium director general, said: “Food inflation remains below trend, but was slightly higher in September than in August. Ambient food, rather than fresh, showed the more significant increases in prices. While there was a slowing of inflation in bread and cereals, this was off-set by rising inflation in non-alcoholic beverages and sugar, jam and chocolate.”
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at Nielsen, said: “With consumers still uncertain about when and where to spend, we expect competition for discretionary spend to intensify in both food and non-food retailing, as we head towards the end of the year.”
