This has been a problem for many months now with UK food price inflation having run at its fastest pace in 45 years back in April here. It has fallen back to roughly 14.6% in June, down from the 18.3% reading in May, but is still a major problem generally. However, Sainsbury is saying that there is perhaps something positive developing:
“We’ve seen in those products where the prices went up first, and that was predominantly in fresh food, we’ve seen prices start to come down. The packaged products just takes longer to feed through the system and so those products will be a bit more stubborn.”
I’ll take that with a pinch of salt. No pun intended. And unless the prices are indeed passed down to the consumer, then only will we see a meaningful change in fortunes for UK households and the cost-of-living crisis.