The first week of the new year saw the inevitable wave of January sales from the supermarkets and seem to have helped dampen the impact of inflation versus the eye-watering figures being reported for the festive period.
The BRC said that food inflation hit 13.3% in December. However, this week’s Grocer 33 shopping basket was on average just 8.4% more expensive than the first week in January 2021. That said, there were still some hefty hikes on key lines, with five products on our list climbing by more than 30% year on year and two of these up by more than 40%. Cucumbers cost 47% more than a year ago while skimmed milk (see right) was up 41%.
A further six lines were up by more than 20% including the Anchor butter, Dettol bathroom wipes and Melton Mowbray pork pies. The good news for shoppers was that conference pears were 9% cheaper year on year, blackberries cost 5% less and the egg fried rice was 1% cheaper.
Asda was not only the cheapest retailer by some distance but also had the least inflation at just 6.2%. Its total of £66.24 was £5.46 cheaper than Sainsbury’s. It offered the lowest price for 19 products and was exclusively cheapest for 10.
Sainsbury’s prices were 8% higher than 12 months ago. This week it offered the lowest price for 13 products and was exclusively cheapest for the Amoy noodles, Old Mout cider and Pepsi Max.
Tesco said this week it was locking down the price of over 1,000 lines until Easter. It was 10.5% more expensive than a year ago and £7.92 pricier than Asda at £74.16, though factoring in Clubcard Prices would have cut the gap to just £1.27.
Morrisons was £9.45 more expensive than Asda at £75.69 while surprisingly Waitrose was just 13p more expensive than that at £75.82.
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