LONDON (Reuters) -British grocery inflation slowed to 4.7% in the four weeks to November 2, industry data showed on Tuesday, providing a little relief to consumers bracing for further tax rises is this month’s government budget.
The figure from Worldpanel by Numerator (formerly Kantar), which provides an early indication of pricing pressures ahead of official UK inflation data on November 19, compared with 5.2% in last month’s report.
Official data published last month showed overall British inflation held steady at 3.8% in September, with food inflation slowing.
Worldpanel said prices are rising fastest in markets such as chocolate confectionery, fresh meat and coffee and are falling fastest in household paper, sugar confectionery and dog food.
It said grocery sales grew 3.2% over the four week period year-on-year – with spending on deals rising 9.4% versus an increase of 1.8% on full priced goods.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, noted that just under 30% of spending at the grocers in October was on promoted items – “a figure that we expect to go even higher as we get closer to Christmas.”
Separately on Tuesday, surveys showed overall spending by British consumers cooled last month as they waited to see how Black Friday deals and the budget would pan out.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)
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