Responding to the latest CPI inflation figures which shows headline inflation at +9.0%, and food inflation at +6.7%, Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), says “Inflationary pressures continue to impact businesses as well as households, with soaring energy prices further driving up the Consumer Price Index.
"These higher energy prices, along with a tight labour market, and the huge costs of moving goods around, are impacting all retailers. Food production has been particularly hard hit, with historically high global food prices, rising costs of animal feed, and disruption in supplies as a result of the Ukraine war.
“The Bank of England now expects inflation to top +10% by the end of the year, as many of the rising costs filter down into prices. Retailers are doing their bit to protect consumers by expanding their value ranges and doing all they can to keep the price of essentials down. This can be seen in the BRC’s Shop Price Index, which tracks the price of basic goods, which showed a slower rise in the price of essential foods and other products than the inflation levels seen in the broader CPI measure.”
According to the index, inflation across furniture, household equipemnt and maintenance products crept up from +10.3% in March to +10.5% in April.
