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Own-label toastie loaves were among four lines to see 40%-plus rises

High inflation dogged the Grocer 33 this week, with prices up 13.2% year on year and 3% on a month ago across the full selection of retailers in our weekly comparison.

Only Sainsbury’s kept inflation below 10%, with its prices up 8.6% versus February 2022. Morrisons, on the other hand, saw prices rocket 17.8% year on year, closely followed by Waitrose, whose prices rose 15.5%, while Tesco and Asda climbed 13.3% and 10.7% respectively.

The product incurring the sharpest rise was the SC Johnson-owned Pledge wood polish (see right) which was 55% more expensive than a year ago. A further three lines climbed more than 40%. The Filippo Berio garlic flavoured oil and the toastie loaves were both up 46%, while the sourdough crumpets were up 41%.

None of the items were cheaper than this time last year.

Asda was the lowest-priced retailer for the first time in three weeks. At £67.15, it came in £2.48 cheaper than second-placed Sainsbury’s. It was cheapest for 23 products, 13 exclusively so. These included the loaf of bread, frozen cod fillets and Fever-Tree tonic water.

Sainsbury’s had the lowest price for 13 products and was exclusively cheapest for six items, including the Baxters chicken broth, cherries and halloumi.

Tesco was £7.23 more expensive than Asda, though factoring in its Clubcard Prices would have closed the gap to £3.48.

Morrisons was cheapest for nine products and exclusively so for the mashed potato. However, it came in £7.84 more expensive than Asda at £74.99.

Waitrose was £15.96 more expensive than Asda at £83.11. It only managed to match the lowest price on three items, despite six price-only promos and none were exclusively cheapest.