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Food pushes up shop price inflation

03/09/2008

Shop prices continued to rise in August but the rate of food inflation slowed, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Overall shop price inflation rose to 3.8 per cent in August, from 3.2 per cent in July.

Officially, inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), stood at 4.4 per cent in July.

Recent inflation has been driven by food, which continued its rise over the month to ten per cent from 9.5 per cent in July, according to the BRC data.

However, this rise in growth was lower than previous months, raising hopes that food inflation may be nearing its peak.

Stephen Robertson, BRC director general, said: "There is some comfort from these figures. For the first time since March the growth rate of food inflation slowed offering the prospect that we may be nearing the peak of food inflation.

"Despite retailers facing rising fuel and electricity bills, overall shop prices in August are well below the official rate of inflation, as retailers shield customers from the full effects of rising costs."

Mike Watkins, senior manager of retailer services at Nielsen, said: "Shop price inflation is likely to continue through the autumn but we are hopeful that the acceleration in cost prices that has driven food prices up so sharply is starting to slow."

In August, annual price inflation for non-food was 0.6 per cent, a slight increase from 0.1 per cent in the previous month.

Prices were up in the furniture, DIY and books, stationery and home entertainment sectors. In electricals and clothing and footwear, prices fell.