UK supermarket price inflation hits record high, adding £788 to annual bills

theguardian.com:

Britain’s retailers have said shop price inflation has yet to peak this year, with the cost of basic essentials expected to remain high, after figures showed grocery prices accelerating at the fastest rate on record.

The British Retail Consortium said the price of food and drink, clothing and other items sold in shops and online would continue to rise at a rapid pace, even if the UK’s official inflation rate for all goods and services fades over the coming months.

Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the BRC, said: “As retailers still face ongoing headwinds from rising energy bills and labour shortages, prices are yet to peak and will likely remain high in the near term as a result.”

She said a fall in the global price of oil and food from higher levels last year would help to see some inflationary pressures easing.

The UK’s official inflation rate – which measures annual price growth in retail but also more widely in restaurant meals, energy bills, and haircuts – has fallen back from a peak of 11.1% in October to just over 10% in December.

Nevertheless, food price inflation in particular has soared as producers pass on the cost of higher energy bills and raw materials. The BRC flagged big rises in sugar and alcohol in the past month, as well as fruit and vegetables.

It comes after figures from the retail analysts Kantar showed grocery price inflation in the UK hit a fresh record high of 16.7% in the four weeks to 22 January, adding nearly £800 to the typical annual shopping bill, with the price of milk, eggs and dog food rising fastest.

The figure was up from 14.4% in December, and has reached the highest level since Kantar began tracking the figures in 2008. The latest increase will take the average annual food shopping