Shop prices jumped again in early summer, driven by a surge in food inflation, according to new figures earlier this month.
Data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NielsenIQ showed shop price inflation increased to 0.7 percent in July, having risen for the first time in nearly a year in June. Food inflation rose for a sixth consecutive month to 4 percent, compared with 3.7 percent growth in June, and above a three-month average of 3.5 percent.
In Ireland food inflation was up too - heading above the 5 percent mark at last count. By one reckoning in the five years to July, food prices increased by around 37 percent.
That compares with a rise of 4.4percent over the previous five-year period. That’s quite the leap.
And of course climate change is projected to exacerbate food inflation - previous research has examined how high temperatures can drive general food price inflation over the long term.
It will be interesting to see where prices have gone during the rest of the summer months this year.
