55m ago
07.34 BST
Food inflation picks up
Food inflation has also picked up again, to an
annual rate of 3.7% last month, up from 3.3% in February.
Chocolate and confectionery, meat, fish, and soft
drinks became dearer, while bread and cereals, and dairy products pulled the
inflation rate lower.
The Food and Drink Federation has crunched the
numbers.
Prices rose the fastest for beef and veal
(18.8%), whole milk (12.7%) and confectionary products (11.1%).
Prices fell for nine categories, with the largest
drops for: flours (-6.8%), olive oil (-6.2%), and pizza (-2.6%).
It will take 7-12 months for cost pressures on
manufacturers to feed through to consumers
Liliana Danila, chief economist at the FDF, said:
The clouds are gathering, but the storm has not
yet broken on rising food and drink inflation. The war in Iran has delivered a
cost shock that is already too large for manufacturers to absorb in full. The
impact on prices will take time to work its way through the system, but it’s
only a matter of time before it does. For manufacturers, long-term contracts
with suppliers and retailers mean it can take up to a year for higher costs to
be fully passed through. But where products are less processed, or supply chains
are shorter, prices will move more quickly. As a result, absent of any
government intervention, we expect a gradual but persistent pickup in food
inflation, reaching around 9%–10% by the end of the year.
This means we’re in a crucial window for action
to limit the impact on shoppers. We’re working with government to look at the
levers they can pull now to support food manufacturers now to soften the blow
on consumers later in the year.
In better news for consumers, clothing prices
fell by 0.8% in the 12 months to March, compared with a rise of 0.9% in the 12
months to February, marking the lowest recorded since March 2021, when prices
were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
1h ago
07.22 BST
UK diesel
and petrol prices jump, air fares also rise
The
average price of petrol rose by 8.6p a litre between February and March,
compared with a fall of 1.6p a litre a year earlier. The average price was
140.2p a litre, the highest since August 2024, the ONS said.
Diesel
prices rose even more, by 17.6p a litre, compared with a drop of 1.6p a litre
this time last year. The average price stood at 158.7p a litre, the highest
since November 2023.
Air fares
also increased, by 10% between February and March, compared with a fall of 0.3%
a year ago. It was the largest monthly increase between February and March
since 2016, when it was 22.9%. The upward effect came almost entirely from long
haul routes, where the return flights were on the Tuesday immediately after the
Easter weekend.
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