The Grocer – 10 August 2019

analysis retail & wholesale prices

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 10 August 2019 | The Grocer | 15

THE GROCER PRICE INDEX

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■ ASDA

■ SAINSBURY’S

■ TESCO

■ MORRISONS

■ GPI

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JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL

 

PRICE CHANGE CHANGE

PRICES £/tonne m-o-m % y-o-y %

Meat & poultry

Pork (Denmark) ,.  .  .

Beef (forequarter, Brazil) ,.  . .

Turkey (frozen, UK) ,. . .

Chicken (UK) ,.  . . 

Lamb (New Zealand) ,. –. .

Pork (UK) ,.  . .

Chicken (Netherlands) , . . .

Beef (deadweight, France) ,. . .

Lamb (UK) ,. –. –.

Beef (deadweight, UK) ,. –. –.

Source: Mintec

Info: All prices are indicative only and are representative within the country quoted

This year’s heatwave in the EU
has hit the bloc’s entire pork
market, pushing prices up. The
temperatures have caused hogs
to grow more slowly, resulting
in lower production.
Prices of Brazilian beef have
been kept  rm both month on
month and year on year due
to increasing demand from
China, Iran and UAE. Brazil had
halted exports to China a er a
BSE case in June. However, the
suspension has been li ed.
Despite a 2% increase in
second-quarter UK pork

production on last year,

monthly prices have been kept

up by rising export demand

from China following the swine

 u epidemic.

Ample supplies of British

lamb are fuelling a price

decline. EU sheep and goat

production is expected to rise

0.5% year on year in 2019.

British beef prices are

currently low due to high

levels of supply. Increased

slaughtering and large stocks

of imported frozen beef have

contributed to high supply.

wholesale prices: EU heatwave behind increased pork prices

Sainsbury’s in de ation but

direction of travel is upward

S

ainsbury’s was the
only supermarket to
record lower annual
shelf prices in July as its ra of
price cuts, announced in June,
stemmed an otherwise in a-
tionary trend across the sector.
A er cutting prices on more
than 1,000 own brand lines in
June, Sainsbury’s average over-
all prices fell by 0.5% year on
year.
The supermarket’s recent
wave of price cuts were targeted
at everyday staples within its
own label ranges, with house-
hold goods seeing the biggest
annual price cut of 2%.
Other categories with falling
prices at Sainsbury’s were alco-
hol (–1.2%), so drinks (–1.1%)
and deli (–1.1%).
However, the overall Grocer
Price Index, collated from more
than 63,000 individual SKUs by
Edge by Ascential, was up 0.3%
in July – its highest  gure for
four months and the fourth time
in the past  ve months annual
prices have been rising.
The rest of the big four all
recorded annual in ation above

Earlier this month, the governor

of the Bank of England Mark

Carney predicted food and pet-

rol prices would rise “instantly”

a er a no-deal Brexit amid

a further fall in the value of

the pound, while the FDF has

warned of “selective shortages”

that would go on for “weeks or

months”.

Despite the looming Brexit

deadline, however, there has

been little signi cant price

movement on a category basis

to date.

Across the GPI’s 14 categories,

so drinks (–0.7%) and house-

hold (–0.9%) were in de ation

last month. The biggest cat-

egory price rises in July were

seen in frozen, bakery and deli

• all up 1.6% year on year.
  The annual fall in the price of
  so drinks marks a signi cant
  change from the in ation of
  3.9% the category experienced
  in July 2018 as manufacturers
  and retailers passed on higher
  prices from the UK sugar levy.
  On a month-on-month basis,
  overall in ation rose by 0.4% in
  July compared with June, with
  in ation most prevalent in alco-
  holic drinks, deli and dairy.

the headline 0.3% GPI  gure.

Prices at Asda, which had fallen

0.5% year on year in June and

which were previously the low-

est across the mults in all but

two of the past eight months,

were up 0.6% – as they were

at Morrisons, which has not

recorded a month of de ation

since April 2018.

And while Tesco prices, up

0.4%, rose at a slower rate,

Tesco has recorded annual

in ation since April , and last

month increased prices on over

1,000 branded and own-label

lines.

Waitrose, not included in

the overall GPI  gure, fell in

between, with annual in ation

of 0.5% in June – its highest for

four months. Unlike its contem-

poraries, however, it has yet to

record a single month of de a-

tion since 2016.

This rise in grocery prices

comes with the pound falling

4.3% in July as the prospect of a

no-deal Brexit intensi ed under

Boris Johnson’s premiership.

Alec Mattinson

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Track annual grocery in ation since 2008

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AND category, at thegrocer.co.uk/GPI