Food Prices Have Fallen For The First Time In Two Years

Amongst reports of the cost of living crisis and its impact on the UK economy, there's finally some positive news. Recent figures have shown that the price of food fell last month for the first time in more than two years, which is relieving for shoppers to hear.

S P Jones and Josie Clarke at The Mirror reported that the average price for a food shop fell by 0.1% in September, in comparison to prices in August. Whilst this figure sounds small, it means that food inflation decreased to 9.9% last month, which is a considerable reduction from August's figure of 11.5%. What's more, food inflation is now at its lowest point since August 2022.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) have concluded this decrease is due to competition among retailers. With rising costs affecting every supermarket, consumers have been more likely to shop around for the cheapest price. They may have noticed lower prices in particular on vegetables, dairy products, margarine and fish, especially across supermarkets' own-brands, in comparison to prices in August.

Lower food prices are a positive outcome, however the most important question is whether they will continue to fall. Helen Dickinson, BRC chief executive, stated: "We expect shop price inflation to continue to fall over the rest of the year. However there are still many risks to this trend high interest rates, climbing oil prices, global shortages of sugar, as well as the supply chain disruption from the war in Ukraine."

With multiple factors at play, we can hope that supermarkets will continue to feel pressure to compete and result in continued price cuts. Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NielsenIQ, stresses the importance "for retail sales to keep momentum" so that shoppers "can expect more price cuts and increased promotional activity across all retail channels."

Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, concludes: "Price increases on food impacts everyone and we can hope experts are confident they keep decreasing, as further increases will continue to prove unsustainable."