End in Sight for Food Inflation

By Nick Clark

The rapid rise of the cost of food may finally be coming to an end, Waitrose boss Mark Price said yesterday, predicting there would be a fall in prices on supermarket shelves in the coming year.

Mr Price, Waitrose’s managing director, said the cost of vegetables at his store was down a third from peak levels, and that a good wheat harvest in many parts of the world promised further savings, despite warnings from British farmers about theeffect of wet weather.

“The prices are already falling, and I imagine you will see more falls across the industry. The underlying cost of the food is lower and supermarkets continue to put a lot of investment into discount pricing,” he said, adding: “The inflationary pressures we have seen are set to level off.”

Mr Price explained: “The wet but mild summer has been good for vegetable growers after a troubled year before with the floods. Fish has fallen by 6 per cent on average because of an oversupply, while the wheat harvest has been good this year, and it looks like prices there will fall.”

Prices in some areas of the food industry are still rising – especially in dairy products and livestock – but supermarkets are reducing margins rather than face losing customers, he claimed. Beef prices have risen by a quarter and lamb by half before they even get to the supermarket, Waitrose revealed.

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