The price of the average basket of grocery items continued its upwards trajectory in August, according to a monthly tracker.
Shopping and comparison website MySupermarket‘s monthly Groceries Tracker found the price of a basket of 35 popular items came to £84.40 compared to the previous month of £84.35.
Overall, the cost of 17 products rose, 11 decreased while seven remained the same.
The total basket is 5p more expensive than July 2017, and it is also £1.05 more expensive than August 2016 and £2.13 more expensive since the start of the year.
The stats compare to the recent monthly BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index, which saw overall food inflation up from 1.2 per cent in July to 1.3 per cent in August.
MySupermarket‘s tracker found that the price changes in August were smaller compared to previous months, in the range of one to three per cent prices rises.
Last month, the tracker found that the majority of the products rose between two and eight per cent.
However, squash drinks did rise by nine per cent after spending the first seven months of the year changing very minimally, while the price of mushrooms has continued to drop by another 10 per cent, bringing it closer to the price that it was back in January.
MySupermarket said the items that did fall in price, did so minimally with only a one per cent difference.
MySupermarket chief executive Gilad Simhony said the latest monthly tracker indicated the price increases were minimal compared to the previous month, but the increases were still there – and rising.
“It is the fruit and vegetables that seem to have the most unstable pricing over the last few months, with the price of mushrooms changing every month,” he said.
“All’s not lost though, as it is still cheaper than the £85.80 we started with in January 2016.
“More than ever, customers should do their research before shopping so they can make sure they are getting the best value for money.”
The Groceries Tracker monitors the cost of the same 35 most commonly bought grocery products monthly.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
