© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Individuals store at a grocery market, in London, Britain Might 6, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi
By James Davey
LONDON (Reuters) – British grocery inflation eased barely for the second month in a row in Might however remained near document highs, trade knowledge confirmed on Tuesday, offering little consolation for customers grappling with a cost-of-living disaster.
Market researcher Kantar mentioned annual grocery inflation was 17.2% within the 4 weeks to Might 14, and whereas that was down from 17.3% in its April knowledge set, it was the third quickest price it has recorded since 2008.
It mentioned UK households now face an extra 833 kilos ($1,051) on their annual buying payments if they don’t change their behaviour to chop prices.
It mentioned costs are rising quickest in merchandise corresponding to eggs and ambient cooking sauces.
The Kantar knowledge for Might offers the freshest snapshot of UK grocery inflation.
Official UK knowledge revealed final month confirmed total shopper value inflation fell to 10.1% in March. Nevertheless, costs of meals and non-alcoholic drinks have been 19.1% greater in March than a 12 months earlier, the largest such rise since August 1977. Official knowledge for April will likely be revealed on Wednesday.
The Financial institution of England mentioned earlier this month it anticipated total inflation to fall extra slowly than it had hoped, largely resulting from unexpectedly large and chronic rises in meals costs.
Meals retailers have mentioned they count on costs to rise in 2023 total however with the speed of inflation declining by means of the 12 months.
Costs for some merchandise that had seen the sharpest rises, corresponding to milk, butter, bread, pasta, vegetable and sunflower oil, have began to fall.
Kantar mentioned 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, virtually double that of branded merchandise which rose by 8.3%.
Kantar mentioned total grocery gross sales rose 10.8% over the 4 weeks year-on-year, with gross sales up 16% through the week of King Charles’ coronation, with an additional 218 million kilos spent.
German owned discounters Aldi and Lidl have 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
Might 14 2023 Might 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)
