Stay knowledgeable with free updates
Simply signal as much as the UK inflation myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.
UK shop prices fell between May and June and have been little modified from final 12 months, in accordance with sector knowledge that implies the subsequent authorities will profit from a pointy easing in the cost of living crisis.
Prices in shops and supermarkets fell 0.2 per cent month on month in June, with each meals and non-food gadgets registering a contraction, the British Retail Consortium commerce physique stated on Tuesday.
Annual inflation, the change in prices in contrast with the identical month in 2023, dropped to solely 0.2 per cent final month, down from 0.6 per cent in May and the bottom since October 2021.
BRC chief government Helen Dickinson stated: “Whoever wins Thursday’s election will benefit from the work of retailers to cut their costs and prices, easing the cost of living for millions of households.”
She stated meals inflation was now decrease than at any time since 2021, helped by falling prices for necessities such as butter and occasional, and that non-food prices had fallen from this time final 12 months as retailers sought to spice up gross sales by discounting.
“This was particularly true for TVs with great deals to capitalise on the Euros fever,” stated Dickinson.
Households have struggled with the cost of living crisis for many of the previous three years, with shop worth inflation rising to an all-time excessive of 9 per cent in May 2023 in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
High living prices have posed a problem for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as he seeks to steer voters to again him in this week’s election. Labour has a roughly 20 level lead over the governing Conservatives in opinion polls.
Official client worth inflation — which not like the BRC index consists of providers, power and journey — dropped to 2 per cent final month, the primary time it has been on the Bank of England’s goal since July 2021.
The newest BRC knowledge suggests underlying worth pressures continued to ease in June, serving to family earnings along with the quick tempo of wage progress. Healthier family funds bode properly for financial progress.
The BRC discovered that non-food prices have been in deflation, falling by an annual price of 1 per cent in June, sooner than the 0.8 per cent contraction in May.
Food inflation declined additional to 2.5 per cent in June from 3.2 per cent in May, properly beneath its peak of 15.7 per cent in April final 12 months.
Annual worth progress in ambient meals, gadgets that may be saved at room temperature, remained greater however declined sharply to three.9 per cent from 4.8 per cent in the earlier month.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and enterprise perception at analysis firm NielsenIQ, which helped compile the info, stated: “Shop price inflation is still slowing and this will be of help to shoppers as they plan their household budgets for essential goods and services.”