Food inflation in the UK is at its lowest levels since December 2007, according to the British Retail Consortium.

The BRC figures show that food price inflation in July was 3.8 per cent up on the same month a year ago compared with a year-on-year inflation rate of 5.6 per cent in June.

Stephen Robertson, BRC director general said: “Food inflation is now the lowest it has been for more than a year and a half. This was helped by the dramatic fall in the price of some commodities. Corn prices have nearly halved over the past year and the cost of animal feed, which was one of the main factors driving up fresh food inflation last year has also fallen by a third compared to a year ago.”

Robertson believes that food inflation will continue to be a significant downward pressure on overall shop price inflation.

Looking specifically at fresh food including produce, annual fresh food inflation slowed to 3.1 per cent in July from 5.5 per cent in June. Robertson said: “This is the lowest level of fresh food inflation since September 2007. The deceleration in the rate of inflation can be attributed to both fruit and vegetables, which have been subject to large-scale summer promotions. It is expected that fresh food inflation will fall further next month compared with last year’s record high of 11.9 per cent in August.”

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