The British Retial Consortium (BRC) have announced that food inflation fell to 3.5% in February from 4.0% in January while non-food prices fell 0.4% in February compared with a 1.4% fall in January.
That is good news for consumers but still puts pressure on the local Stockport food retailers as they work to keep their prices low while still providing high quality goods with less financial reward. S
Sales of some higher value goods also show signs of falling prices.
Helen Dickinson, British Retail Consortium Director General, said:
“Food inflation has fallen to a five month low, a sign that past falls in commodities such as wheat and corn are continuing to filter through. There are still pressures in the pipeline, especially from recent rises in the price of animal feed, but barring any major shocks I would expect food inflation to stay fairly steady in the medium term.
“Non-food is less deflationary than the previous month. This is to be expected after the deep discounting of the post-Christmas sales. But prices in many categories are still down year-on-year, with furniture and floorcoverings showing price falls for the first time in seven months.
“The overall inflation figure is up, another sign that discounting is less extensive than it was in January. But it’s still well below the Consumer Price Index of 2.7 per cent – a reflection that, with consumer confidence still weak, retailers continue to do all they can to offer the best possible value. And our February sales figures, which showed the strongest sales growth for three years, suggest that customers are responding well to this.”
Source: BRC website
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