Supermarket prices soar to their highest level in three years after lockdown surge in demand

Millions of shoppers have been hit by soaring costs in supermarkets as prices hit their highest level in three years. 

The research shows that supermarket price inflation has reached its highest level since 2017 as families stocked up on household essentials during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Yearly inflation in grocery shops hit two per cent in early April, the highest since December 2017 when it was 2.4 per cent. 

Experts said the price rises, revealed in The Grocer magazine, were mainly due to a cut in promotional items which had driven up the overall cost of shopping baskets. 

The price index was published by trade magazine The Grocer and was collated by Edge by Ascential from over 62,000 products across the big four supermarkets.  

The research said all supermarkets displayed a marked rise in inflation during April, led by Tesco, where prices leapt by 2.6 per cent year-on-year, having been up 0.9 per cent annually in March. 

Prices at Sainsbury’s were up two per cent annually, while Morrisons prices rose 1.8 per cent and Asda’s were up 1.6 per cent. 

In March it was 0.4 per cent, 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.    

The Grocer previously reported there was little direct evidence of hikes in the underlying shelf price of individual items in the first month of the lockdown. 

However, the margin said that a cut in promotion levels of more than 50 per cent across the industry had driven up the overall cost of shopping baskets.  

Fruit and vegetables decreased by 0.2 per cent in price compared to last year.  

Beauty products rose in price by 4.7 per cent which was the highest of all. Deli counter goods were up 3.9 per cent, frozen foods 3.5 per cent and dry groceries three per cent.