At 95p the average price of a pint of skimmed milk in UK supermarkets has shot up by 58% year on year, according to our latest Grocer 33 pricing survey.
The massive hike demonstrates the continued cost of living pressure shoppers are under, particularly around the core essentials. This was by far the biggest price hike of the items on our shopping list. However, a further six lines were also at least 30% more expensive than a year ago. These included the wholemeal loaf (up 38%), baking potatoes (up 33%), and the Dolmio lasagne sauce and own brand lasagne sheets, which were up 32% and 31% respectively.
The only positive news for shoppers was the cheese & tomato pizza being 16% cheaper on average and the 1% decline in the price of the Popchips.
Overall prices were 10.7% higher than in February 2022, while they were also 2.2% higher compared with January.
Prices at Asda were 8.4% more expensive than last year. This was the smallest increase of any of the retailers we visited this week. This helped Asda offer the lowest-priced basket. At £67.91 it came in £4.49 cheaper than Sainsbury’s.
Asda offered the lowest price for 17 products and was exclusively cheapest for seven, including the bananas and mint imperials. Sainsbury’s was cheapest for 12 lines and exclusively so for four, including the pizza and frozen cherries.
Morrisons came in £4.81 more expensive than Asda at £72.72. Its five exclusively cheapest lines included the lettuce and Dorset Cereals muesli. Tesco was over a fiver more expensive than Asda at £73.04, though its Clubcard Prices initiative would have reduced the gap to £3.93.
Waitrose’s inflation was running at 14% this week, the highest of the retailers we visited. It was almost £20 more expensive than Asda at £87.50.
No comments yet