Rise in food and drink inflation slows

The rate at which grocery prices rose slowed marginally in the year to April, from 19.2% to 19.1%.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt recently met the FDF to discuss the cost of food and look for ways to ease the pressure on households.

Commenting on the latest inflation figures, Mr Hunt said: "Although it is positive that [inflation] is now in single digits food prices are still rising too fast."

The FDF’s chief executive Karen Betts said:

"It’s disappointing to see food and drink price inflation remaining at such high levels, but today’s figures underscore the huge pressure the whole food and drink supply chain continues to be under, with input costs across the board – even where these have started to fall – still much greater than they were pre-pandemic. 

"Representatives from our sector met the Chancellor yesterday for a constructive discussion about how industry and government can work better together to tackle inflation, conscious of the very real pressure that food prices are putting on household budgets.  We explained that the combined disruption of COVID, the war in Ukraine and Brexit had made for a very challenging set of operating conditions, driving up costs in the UK and globally.  We explained how companies are cutting costs wherever possible and are turning to price rises only as a last resort, but the scale of cost increases has meant that price rises have been unavoidable in many cases.   

"We asked the Chancellor to work with us in taking the heat out of inflation in our sector.  We urged government to take the time to ensure that Extended Producer Responsibility and Deposit Return Schemes are set up in the most efficient and cost-effective ways to ensure value for money for consumers, while also working with us to address persistent labour and skills shortages, reforming the Apprenticeship Levy, and ensuring new labelling requirements flowing from the Windsor Framework are kept to a minimum."