Shop price inflation went up by 2.3% in January 2009 compared with 2.2% last month according to the Shop Price Index from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Food inflation however decreased from 3.7% in December to 2.9%. Non-food inflation increased from 1.4% to 1.9% in January.
Weak post-Christmas demand and competition kept prices down in January. The VAT increase which was expected to contribute to price increases was not passed on to customers and discounts and promotions also helped.
Food inflation was kept low because of the prices of fresh foods like meat and milk but large price rises in commodities like sugar and coca may mean price increases if they continue to put pressure on food inflation.
No comments:
Post a Comment