GRAHAM HISCOTT High grocery bills are toast Post-brexit price hikes slow down

HARD-PRESSED shoppers got a lift yesterday on hopes that the post-brexit hike in supermarket prices could be coming to an end.

According to the latest figures from analysts Kantar Worldpanel, grocery inflation rose 3.2% for the 12 weeks ending July 16 – the same rate of increase as last month’s data.

It said rising prices in categories such as butter, fish and cola had been partially offset by falling prices in areas including fruit squash and cooked poultry.

Rising inflation both in food and energy costs has put enormous pressure on households, particularly with wages failing to increase at the same rate.

“Consumers will be pleased to hear that price rises are no longer accelerating,” said Fraser Mckevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar. “One year on from the EU referendum – which had a marked impact on the price of imported groceries – struggling shoppers could soon start to feel upward pricing pressures ease.”

Kantar said supermarket sales had increased by 3.9% during the period compared to the same time last year.

It said the warm summer weather had led to a surge in demand for ice cream and suncare products.

Lidl was the best performer, with sales rising 19.4%, its strongest growth in almost three years, with Aldi up 17.9%. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons saw sales increases of 2.3%, 2.2% and 2.1% respectively.