UK grocery inflation fell for a sixteenth month in a row in June, data from market researcher Kantar showed on Tuesday.
This provided some encouragement to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of next month’s election.
Kantar said that annual grocery price inflation was 2.1% in the four weeks to 9 June, down from 2.4% in the previous four-week period.
In his campaigning for the 4 July election, Sunak has sought to take credit for more than halving overall inflation.
However, there has been little sign of an opinion poll boost for the Conservative Party, which is lagging behind the opposition Labour Party.
Food Inflation
Kantar said prices were falling in nearly one-third of its tracked grocery categories, including toilet tissue, butter and milk.
However, prices were still rising in markets such as chilled fruit juices and chocolate confectionery.
UK market leader Tesco said on Friday it expected “very low single-digit” food inflation for the remainder of the year.
Kantar’s data showed take-home grocery sales rose 1.0% in value terms over the four-week period on a year-by-year basis.
This was the slowest increase since June 2022, reflecting poor weather and falling inflation.
The head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Fraser McKevitt said, “We’re not yet reaching for those typical summertime products and are making some purchases you wouldn’t expect in June.”
McKevitt noted that customers bought nearly 25% fewer suncare items in the month compared with last year.
He also said that prepared salad sales were down 11%, while fresh soup sales jumped 24%.
McKevitt said that supermarkets were hoping for a boost from the Euro 2024 soccer championship, with the proportion of beer and lager sales on promotion increasing more than 40% in the latest measured four-week period.
Market Share
Over the 12 weeks to 9 June, online supermarket Ocado once again claimed the title of fastest-growing grocer, with a 10.7% increase in sales year-on-year.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Aldi also won market share.
Asda was the laggard, losing 90 basis points of share on a year-by-year basis.
In terms of market share, Tesco leads the way (27.7%), followed by Sainsbury’s (15.2%), Asda (12.8%), Aldi (10.0%), Morrisons (8.7%), Lidl (8.1%), Co-operative (5.5%), Waitrose (4.5%) and Iceland (2.4%).
Despite leading growth, Ocado currently holds just 1.8% of total UK market share.
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