Shoppers may end up paying more for their groceries by the autumn despite recent falls in food costs, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned.
The organisation claimed that cost pressures are steadily building for retailers, with shipping expenses having tripled since 2019.
Global food prices have hit their highest point in seven years.
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This burden has yet to be transferred on to British consumers, and the BRC’s price index revealed that food costs fell by 0.3 per cent in May.
Fresh food prices dropped for the sixth consecutive month in May, declining by one per cent.
However, both of these falls are significantly less steep than in April and may point to a long-term increase.
“We will likely see these costs filter through in the second half of this year,” BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said.
“Retailers may be forced to pass on some of these costs onto their customers.”
She encouraged the government to “ease the burden on British consumers” by reducing the impact of new documentation needed at EU borders from October.
The news comes after Which? revealed that supermarket “pricing secrets” mean shoppers are paying up to four times more for their groceries.
