// Which? data reveals that prices increased most at Lidl, followed by Aldi, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and then Ocado
// While the discounters remain generally cheaper than bigger rivals, it seems they have less room for flexibility when it comes to passing costs on to customers
The price of some everyday groceries has more than doubled over the last year as the cost of own-brand items continues to rise, new data from Which? reveals.
Which?’s food and drink inflation tracker, analysed inflation on more than 25,000 food and drink products at eight major supermarkets – Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
Data showed that prices increased most at Lidl, followed by Aldi, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and then Ocado while a range of everyday items including milk, meat and fruit were on each supermarket’s list of groceries with the highest inflation.
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Mozzarella, cornflakes and brie are some of the food products to have more than doubled in price in the last year, while own-brand products have been particularly hard hit featuring heavily in most supermarkets’ lists.
The tracker shows that in February, the annual inflation of popular food and drink was at 16.5% overall across the eight retailers.
While the inflation rates have dropped slightly among some high inflation categories – such as butters and spreads, which dropped from 29.9% last month to 26.1% this month – it has risen across other essential categories.
When Which? looked at inflation by supermarket it found that while the discounters remain generally cheaper than bigger rivals, it seems they have less room for flexibility when it comes to passing costs on to customers.
Which? head of food policy Sue Davies said: “Worryingly our tracker shows that some everyday essentials have more than doubled in price over the last year – with cheaper own-brand items particularly hard hit.
“Supermarkets need to step up and ensure everyone has easy access to basic, affordable food ranges at a store near them, particularly in areas where people are most in need.
“Retailers must also provide transparent pricing so people can easily work out which products offer the best value.”
However, a Lidl spokesperson told The Independent: “We are extremely concerned that since the launch of this ‘tracker’ Which? has consistently chosen to publish information that we, and other retailers, have confirmed to be incorrect. This includes data for products that we do not even sell.”
Which? said Lidl has “failed to say what the inaccuracies are”.
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