Shoppers face more costly food but cheaper non-food products
SHOP PRICE inflation edged up in August, as non-food prices declined less than in July, according to an index released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) yesterday.
The overall index crept up to 1.1 per cent last month, up slightly from July’s one per cent – but well below the trend in the official consumer and retail price indices.
However, this index was made up of divergent movement in food and non-food prices. The index for food prices was up 3.1 per cent on the year, but non-food inched down 0.1 per cent.
“For all the talk of food prices erupting, August’s food inflation was no higher than the previous month’s two-year low of 3.1 per cent,” said BRC boss Stephen Robertson.
“But, with price pressures from global commodities in the pipeline, this is likely to be food inflation bottoming out,” he warned.