Supermarket essentials DOUBLE in price as BoE warns businesses may be profiting from ‘greed’

It has been revealed that thousands of shopping cart essentials have skyrocketed in price, with some products doubling in just one year.

The numbers come from an analysis of more than 25,000 products and make it clear that budget lines, which many turned to during the cost-of-living crisis, are rising faster.

New research from Which? shows that the annual inflation rate for popular foods and beverages in February was 16.5% in eight large supermarkets.

On average, the prices of the economy range increased by 22.9%, with an increase of 19.7% in own brands, 13.8% in premium supermarket lines and 13.3% in big brands .

The increases are adding hundreds of pounds to annual food bills and are well ahead of increases in wages, pensions and benefits.

Earlier this month, Bank of England policy officer Catherine Mann warned ‘Greed’ could take its toll on ordinary people if companies use the cost of living to justify big price hikes.

Sue Davies, Director of Food Policy at Which?, said: “It is worrying that our tracker shows that some everyday staples have more than doubled in price over the last year, with cheaper own-brand items particularly affected.”

‘Supermarkets need to step up and ensure everyone has easy access to affordable basic food ranges at a nearby store, particularly in areas where people need it most.

“Retailers must also provide transparent pricing so that people can easily determine which products offer the best value.”

The new figures show that discounters Lidl and Aldi are still the cheapest places to shop. However, they have seen the largest average annual price increases.

The tracker shows prices rose 24.4% at Lidl, compared with 22.7% at Aldi, 17% at Asda, 16.7% at Morrisons, 14.2% at Waitrose, 14 .1% at Sainsbury’s, 14% at Tesco and 10.3% at Ocado.

The annual rate of increase has decreased in some categories, such as butters and spreads, however it has increased in other basic products.

For example, inflation for vegetables went from 11.6% to 13%, juices and smoothies went from 13.4% to 15.1%, and cereals increased from 13.4% to 14.6%.

Products that have doubled in price in a year include Asda’s Free From Special Flakes, Morrison’s Free From Corn Flakes, Tesco Creamfields French Brie, Lidl’s Chene D’argent Camembert and Waitrose’s Essential Italian Mozzarella.

Many private label products showed the largest increases. For example, Aldi’s Nature’s Pick Honeydew Melon is up 79 per cent at £1.70.

But Lidl discarded the Which one? recommendations. He was saying, ‘We are extremely concerned that since the release of this ‘tracker,’ which one? has consistently chosen to publish information that we and other retailers have confirmed to be incorrect.’

Consumer prices as a whole increased by 8.8% in the UK in the 12 months to January 2023, increasing monthly fuel and food bills in some cases by hundreds of pounds.

Aldi said: ‘We have repeatedly raised concerns with Which? about the accuracy of this survey.

‘We are working hard to protect customers from inflation across the industry, and our promise to our customers is that we will always offer the lowest grocery prices in Britain.

‘Which? named us as the cheapest supermarket in 2022 and has again confirmed that we were the lowest priced supermarket in January and February 2023.’

Asda, Morrison’s, Waitrose, Ocado and Sainsbury’s all mentioned inflation pressures but insisted they were working hard to keep prices “competitive” for customers.

As reported in The Times, Morrisons said it had recently cut the price of 1,000 popular products, while Ocado said it was investing in the price of branded and private label products.

There was no response from Tesco.