According to a survey released on Tuesday, shop price inflation in the UK has reached its highest level since 2005, marking a new record. However, the growth in food

prices showed a slight slowdown. The data, published by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), revealed that prices in supermarkets and retail chains rose by 9.0% in the year leading up to May, following an 8.8% increase in April.

While food price inflation measured by the BRC eased slightly to 15.4% from 15.7%, overall shop price inflation saw a marginal rise in May. BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson commented on the findings, stating that households would welcome the deceleration in food inflation. She attributed the slowdown to lower energy and commodity costs, resulting in reduced prices for certain essential items like butter, milk, fruit, and fish.

These figures come in the wake of official data released last week, which indicated that annual consumer price inflation, encompassing services and non-shop goods such as energy, had slowed to 8.7% in April, though not as much as anticipated (down from 10.1%). Official food price inflation, which earlier this year reached its highest level since 1977, experienced a marginal decline to 19.1% from 19.2%.

Dickinson emphasized the need to avoid imposing additional costs on retailers and further escalating the cost of goods, as it could hinder the progress made in curbing food inflation. She highlighted potential risks arising from policies like forthcoming border checks and reforms related to packaging recycling fees.

The data collected by the BRC was based on prices gathered between May 1 and May 7. Photo by Mtaylor848, Wikimedia commons.