PRICES of the most commonly bought products nudged up last month to a six-year high.
The last Shop Price Index shows inflation accelerated in March to 0.9%, up from 0.7% in February, making it the highest rate since 2013.
Non-food prices were at the same level as March 2018 while food costs rose by 2.5%, up from 1.6% in February.
David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “Retailers are working hard to keep down shop prices, however cost pressures in the supply chain have built up and are being compounded by increases in government-imposed taxes.
“These pressures are now outweighing the impact of strong competition between shopkeepers, who have little margin to work with, and who are regrettably being forced to pass on some of these costs to consumers.
“The fact that food prices have spiked will be most keenly felt by lower-income households who typically spend proportionally more of their family budget on groceries.”
Global commodity prices and weather events also pushed costs up last month, as cereal and bread increased in price.
Last year’s bad weather resulted in a number of UK crops – such as onions, potatoes and cabbage – seeing lower yields, leading to significant price increases in 2019.
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