Food price inflation falls to 7%
Food price inflation fell to 7% in the 12 months to July 2017, down from a high of 9% in May.
That's according to the latest edition of the CGA Prestige Foodservice Price Index.
The index revealed that prices in some categories are starting to come down slightly, although in other key sectors the trend is still up.
Inflation in wholesale foodservice prices in July 2017 fell from its previous level of 8.8% in June 2017 and 9% in May, which is likely to come as welcome news to the UK's eating out operators, who have experienced high price inflation over the past 12 months.
However, some of the inflationary fall can be attributed to the higher monthly comparables of 2016, when the post-Brexit months saw prices rise rapidly as the value of the pound fell sharply against the Euro.
Sugar and cocoa prices have seen year-on-year deflation of 6.8%. Fruit inflation has also seen a decrease to just under 9% for July, down from 13.6% in June.
But oils and fats saw the highest price inflation for July, rising 12.4% year on year due to harvest issues for olive oils in the newer producing countries. Meat inflation saw double-digit rises in July as compared to the previous year, up to 11.4%.
The price of wholesale milk, cheese and eggs has also risen slightly this month, up to a year-on-year inflation figure of 10.6% for July.
Christopher Clare, head of consulting and insight at Prestige Purchasing, said: "While the CGA Prestige Foodservice Price Index shows that overall the price inflation figures appear to have calmed, this is somewhat due to the high comparables of last year. However, there are still a number of crucial supply issues that could force up prices further in many key categories."
"The weakened value of the pound is inevitably having a profound impact on wholesale prices in the UK and in some categories, such as vegetables, the threat of insufficient migrant labour is already threatening to constrain domestic supplies," added Graeme Loudon, commercial director at CGA.
The CGA Prestige Foodservice Price Index is jointly produced by Prestige Purchasing and CGA using data drawn from over 50% of the foodservice market and around 7.8m transactions per month.
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