By James Davey
LONDON (Reuters) – UK grocery inflation fell for a sixteenth month in a row in June, trade knowledge confirmed on Tuesday, offering just a little cheer for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak forward of subsequent month’s election.
Market researcher Kantar mentioned annual grocery price inflation was 2.1% within the 4 weeks to June 9, down from 2.4% within the earlier four-week interval.
In campaigning forward of the July 4 election, Sunak has sought to take credit score for greater than halving total inflation. Nonetheless, there was little signal of an opinion ballot enhance for his struggling Conservative Social gathering, which badly lags the opposition Labour Social gathering.
Kantar mentioned costs had been falling in almost one-third of the grocery classes it tracks, together with bathroom tissues, butter and milk. Nonetheless, they had been nonetheless rising in markets corresponding to chilled fruit juices and chocolate confectionery.
Market chief Tesco (OTC:) mentioned on Friday it anticipated “very low single-digit” meals inflation for the remainder of 2024.
Official UK knowledge revealed on Could 22 confirmed total shopper price inflation fell to 2.3% within the 12 months to April. Official inflation knowledge for Could can be revealed on Wednesday, forward of the Financial institution of England’s subsequent coverage announcement on Thursday.
Kantar’s knowledge, probably the most up-to-date snapshot of UK shopper behaviour, confirmed take-home grocery gross sales rose 1.0% in worth phrases over the four-week interval on a year-on-year foundation – the slowest improve since June 2022, which it mentioned mirrored poor climate and falling inflation.
“We’re not yet reaching for those typical summertime products and are making some purchases you wouldn’t expect in June,” mentioned Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and shopper perception at Kantar.
He famous shoppers purchased almost 25% fewer suncare objects within the month in contrast with final yr and 11% fewer ready salads. In distinction, recent soup gross sales jumped 24%.
McKevitt mentioned supermarkets had been hoping for a lift from the Euro 2024 soccer championship, with the proportion of beer and lager gross sales on promotion rising to greater than 40% within the newest 4 weeks.
Over the 12 weeks to June 9, on-line grocery store Ocado (LON:) was once more the quickest rising grocer. It together with Tesco, No. 2 Sainsbury’s, and discounter Lidl received market share.
Asda was once more the laggard, dropping 90 foundation factors of share on a year-on-year foundation.
UK supermarkets’ market share and gross sales progress (%)
Market share Market share % change in
12 wks to 12 wks to gross sales
June 9 2024 June 11 2023 (yr-on-yr)
Tesco 27.7 27.1 4.6
Sainsbury’s 15.2 14.9 4.9
Asda 12.8 13.7 -4.0
Aldi 10.0 10.2 0.8
Morrisons 8.7 8.8 1.1
Lidl 8.1 7.7 8.1
Co-operative 5.5 5.8 -2.3
Waitrose 4.5 4.5 3.5
Iceland 2.4 2.3 4.4
Ocado 1.8 1.7 10.7
Supply: Kantar