The average grocery basket price has fallen slightly in September compared to 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 £84.90 compared to the previous month‘s £84.93.
Overall, the cost of 20 products rose, 15 decreased and no items stayed the same price.
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In addition, the same basket of goods costs £1.81 more on average when comparing September this year to the same period last year.
The latest Groceries Tracker was released the same week as the monthly BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index, which indicated that overall shop prices were on the verge of inflation, as it dipped by only 0.1 per cent year-on-year in September, compared to the 0.3 per cent decline in August.
BRC-Nielsen attributed this to overall food price increases and retailers feeling overstretched in their ability to shield customers from exchange rate pressures as a result of the weakened pound.
MySupermarket‘s tracker found that many fresh essentials were the cause in average basket price increases throughout September, with onions leading the way in a 16 per cent increase.
Mushrooms climbed 11 per cent, carrots 6.5 percent and grapes were four per cent more expensive.
Butter was the only non-fresh food item to make the top five price increases this month with an increase of four per cent.
Meanwhile, “student essentials” became cheaper, with pasta declining four per cent, red pasta sauce dipping three per cent and baked beans becoming three per cent cheaper.
“We‘re always happy to report a fall in basket cost and the price reduction on store cupboard staples is good news for families on a budget as well as students returning to university,” he said.
“Unfortunately it is once again fresh produce creeping up in price which is not good news for both shoppers‘ health and wealth.”
The Groceries Tracker monitors the cost of the same 35 most commonly bought grocery products monthly.
