UK: Retailers feel the pinch as food costs soar

The price of fresh food jumped by more than 10 per cent in the year to July as producers struggled with high oil and commodity prices.

The cost of fresh produce rose by 2 per cent last month, pushing the annual rise to 10.8 per cent, according to the shop prices index from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen.


Overall food prices were 9.5 per cent higher in July than a year earlier, up from a 7 per cent rise in June, piling the pressure on already hard-pressed consumers.

The BRC said that food producers were being forced to increase their prices as the cost of pork, cooking oils and fats went up. It added that high oil prices were also forcing up the cost of transport, refrigeration and fertilisers. Stephen Robertson, director-general of the BRC, welcomed recent falls in the oil price, but said: