- March sees UK’s lowest food inflation since November 2021
- Prices drop for meat, crumpets, bread, and cereals
- Vegetable oil costs soar due to climate-related crop damage
According to data released by the Office for National Statistics, March marked the lowest annual food inflation rate in the United Kingdom since November 2021.
Last month, the prices of staples such as meat, crumpets, bread, cereals, and chocolate biscuits declined, contributing to the lowest level of inflation in two and a half years.
Last month, however, the price of vegetables, hot beverages, and carbonated drinks continued to rise.
Additionally, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit reported on Wednesday that heating oil costs will likely reach all-time highs.
The ONS reported that prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 4% annually through March, a decrease from 5% through February.
The escalating cost of food has placed an increasing strain on millions of households, resulting in increased expenditures at the registers.
According to ONS data, the rate at which consumer prices increased decreased to 3.2% in the year leading up to March from 3.4% the month prior.
The ONS reported that the deceleration in food inflation was the most significant factor in the overall decline in UK inflation last month.
The annual growth rate of food inflation decelerated for the twelfth consecutive month, following its peak of 19.2% in March 2023, the highest level in more than four decades.
Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 0.2% between February and March, compared to a 1.1% increase during the same month last year.
According to the ONS, prices have remained comparatively high but stable since early summer 2023, increasing by less than 2% between May 2023 and March 2024.
This is in contrast to the approximately 22% increase that occurred between March 2022 and May 2023.
Comparing the current month’s price increase of 0.2 percent to the yearly growth of 2.2 percent, the annual rate of growth for bread and cereals in March was 4%, the lowest since January 2022.
According to the ONS, the cost of certain confectionary items, including chocolate biscuits and crumpets, decreased from February to March 2024 but increased during the same period the previous year.
The cost of meat decreased by 0.5 per cent from February to March of this year, compared to a 1.4 per cent increase during the same period last year.
Consequently, the year-to-March rate amounted to 3.1 per cent, the lowest rate observed since November 2021.
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According to the ONS, pork products were the primary factor contributing to the decline in meat inflation.
Among the eleven food and non-alcoholic drink categories examined, the annual rate decreased in all but eight cases: vegetables, warming beverages, and soft drinks.
However, the reason cooking oil prices are soaring is because…
According to separate data released by the ECIU on Wednesday, oil prices will likely surpass all previous highs.
The ECIU projects that oil seed rape yields in the United Kingdom, which are utilised to produce vegetable cooking oil for both domestic and commercial purposes, will be as much as 38% lower this year compared to 2023. This decrease resulted from “extreme” damp weather that affected crops in the winter and early spring.
The ECIU predicts a 54% decline in the mean yield, as opposed to the trend observed since 2015.
An ECIU land analyst, Tom Lancaster, remarked, “Cooking oil is experiencing a double whammy.”
“Climate extremes are harming crops, whether Spanish olive or British vegetable oil, and consumers are paying the price at the supermarket register.”
In the past two years, climate change has caused a £361 increase in food costs, and the potential failure of the British rapeseed oil harvest may increase the price of vegetable oil.
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