BRC: March marks a whole year of falling food inflation

Responding to the latest CPI inflation figures which show headline inflation falling to 3.2% and food inflation falling 1 percentage point to 4.0%, Kris Hamer, Director of Insight of the British Retail Consortium, said:

“Cost pressures on households eased in March as inflation dropped to its lowest level since September 2021. Energy prices remain deflationary, while falling inflation rates for clothing and household furniture and equipment were also key in driving down the headline figure. Consumers benefitted as food inflation fell once again, marking twelve months of consecutive drops. This was helped by falls in the cost of a roast dinner as the price of beef, pork and potatoes all fell.

“As some cost pressures in the supply chain begin to ease, retailers have worked hard to pass on savings where they can and offering their customers the best value for money. In a year of elections, politicians, both locally and nationally, must recgonise retail's role in the economy, providing jobs and investment in every corner of the country and helping deliver government policy through its scale and reach. Competition between retailers has played a key role in bringing down inflation for the public and it is vital that politicians consider the inflationary impact of new policies which might reverse this progress and result in higher prices for consumers in the long run.”

-ENDS-

Notes:

• ONS Consumer Price Index figures