Receive free UK inflation updates
We’ll ship you a myFT Daily Digest e-mail rounding up the most recent UK inflation information each morning.
UK shop price inflation fell in August to its lowest level in almost a yr, pushed by an easing in meals value pressures, in accordance to sector data.
The British Retail Consortium revealed figures on Tuesday that confirmed the annual price decelerated to 6.9 per cent in August, down from 8.4 per cent in July and the lowest level since October 2022.
Helen Dickinson, chief government of the British Retail Consortium, stated the autumn in shop costs was pushed by the price of meals, “particularly for products such as meat, potatoes and some cooking oils”.
Inflationary pressures have been particularly acute for meals however the BRC data confirmed meals inflation decelerated to 11.5 per cent in August, down from 13.4 per cent the earlier month and the lowest level since September final yr.
Rising meals costs and hovering vitality prices in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine final yr have been the principle drivers of the price of residing disaster.
The falling price of electrical energy and fuel in latest months has helped convey down the UK’s headline price of inflation, which eased to 6.8 per cent in July, though it stays stubbornly excessive.
Official data in latest months additionally confirmed some easing in meals and non-alcoholic drinks inflation. It fell to 14.9 per cent in July from 17.3 per cent the earlier month, a additional decline from the 45-year excessive of 19.2 per cent reached in March.
Research from the London School of Economics earlier this yr recommended that almost a third of the rise in UK meals costs for the reason that finish of 2019 might be attributed to post-Brexit commerce limitations.
The BRC figures recommend the slowdown in meals price inflation is continuous, holding out some reduction for tens of millions of households scuffling with elevated costs.
The largest easing in pricing pressures got here in contemporary meals, the place inflation fell to 11.6 per cent this month, down from 14.3 per cent in July and the lowest level in a yr, in accordance to the BRC.
For ambient meals — objects that may be saved at room temperature — inflation decelerated to 11.3 per cent, down from 12.3 per cent in July and the lowest level since January.
Price pressures additionally fell for toiletries and cosmetics as many vital parts turned cheaper. In distinction, inflation for clothes and footwear rose as retailers unwound an in depth summer time gross sales season, in accordance to the BRC.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and enterprise perception at NielsenIQ, stated the poor climate in latest weeks had damped demand, and he anticipated shoppers “to remain cautious about discretionary spend even as inflation decelerates”.
