UK grocery inflation edges lower again ahead of election, Kantar says
Kantar: Grocery inflation at 2.1% in 4 weeks to June 9
Take-home sales up 1.0%, slowest increase since June 2022
Outcome reflects poor UK weather
Consumers shun suncare items and salads, buy soup
By James Davey
LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) -UK grocery inflation fell for a sixteenth month in a row in June, industry data showed on Tuesday, providing a little cheer for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of next month's election.
Market researcher Kantar said annual grocery price inflation was 2.1% in the four weeks to June 9, down from 2.4% in the previous four-week period.
In campaigning ahead of the July 4 election, Sunak has sought to take credit for more than halving overall inflation. However, there has been little sign of an opinion poll boost for his struggling Conservative Party, which badly lags the opposition Labour Party.
Kantar said prices were falling in nearly one-third of the grocery categories it tracks, including toilet tissues, butter and milk. However, they were still rising in markets such as chilled fruit juices and chocolate confectionery.
Market leader Tesco TSCO.L said on Friday it anticipated "very low single-digit" food inflation for the rest of 2024.
Official UK data published on May 22 showed overall consumer price inflation fell to 2.3% in the 12 months to April. Official inflation data for May will be published on Wednesday, ahead of the Bank of England's next policy announcement on Thursday.
Kantar's data, the most up-to-date snapshot of UK consumer behaviour, showed take-home grocery sales rose 1.0% in value terms over the four-week period on a year-on-year basis - the slowest increase since June 2022, which it said reflected poor weather and falling inflation.
"We're not yet reaching for those typical summertime products and are making some purchases you wouldn't expect in June," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
He noted consumers bought nearly 25% fewer suncare items in the month compared with last year and 11% fewer prepared salads. In contrast, fresh soup sales jumped 24%.
McKevitt said supermarkets were hoping for a boost from the Euro 2024 soccer championship, with the proportion of beer and lager sales on promotion increasing to more than 40% in the latest four weeks.
Over the 12 weeks to June 9, online supermarket Ocado OCDO.L was again the fastest growing grocer. It along with Tesco, No. 2 Sainsbury's SBRY.L, and discounter Lidl won market share.
Asda was again the laggard, losing 90 basis points of share on a year-on-year basis.
UK supermarkets' market share and sales growth (%)
Market share 12 wks to June 9 2024 | Market share 12 wks to June 11 2023 | % change in sales (yr-on-yr) | |
Tesco | 27.7 | 27.1 | 4.6 |
Sainsbury's | 15.2 | 14.9 | 4.9 |
Asda | 12.8 | 13.7 | -4.0 |
Aldi | 10.0 | 10.2 | 0.8 |
Morrisons | 8.7 | 8.8 | 1.1 |
Lidl | 8.1 | 7.7 | 8.1 |
Co-operative | 5.5 | 5.8 | -2.3 |
Waitrose | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
Iceland | 2.4 | 2.3 | 4.4 |
Ocado | 1.8 | 1.7 | 10.7 |
Source: Kantar
Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Paul Simao
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
