Shop Prices Inflation Soaring Global Commodity Prices

Shop price inflation edged up in December as retailers continued to battle against soaring global commodity prices, a new survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) shows.




The BRC shop price index rose to 2.1% from 2% in November (Berlin: NBXB.BE - news) , with food inflation unchanged at 4% and non-food inflation climbing to 1.1% from 0.9%.




"Retailers are protecting British consumers from the full-force of global commodity cost increases, with unprecedented levels of discounting taking the sting out of grocery shopping," said BRC director general Stephen Robertson.




"A string of costs are higher than a year ago. Extreme weather and poor harvests have driven coffee up 5%, wheat 45% and soya beans 38%, yet the shop price of food is up only 4% and that figure is no higher than the previous month."




He said the rise in non-food prices was consistent with warnings from some retailers that inflationary pressures are working through to prices.




The fashion retailer Supergroup (LSE: SGP.L - news) said today that price rises had helped it to preserve margins in the face of higher cotton costs. Peer Next has also complained of rising commodity prices.