Stork spread tops inflation tracker with 81% increase

In the week the UK got a new prime minister – with the cost of living crisis the most burning issue in Liz Truss’s in-tray – grocery prices came in 10.1% year on year, and there’s no sign of them slowing any time soon, with month-on-month inflation on the basket nudging up 0.9%.

In total, 28 items increased in price, with just five cheaper than last September. The product experiencing the biggest rise by far was the Stork baking spread, which cost 81% more than 12 months ago. It was one of eight products that had jumped by more than 30%, though the other seven all increased by between 33% and 36%. These included the Cravendale milk, red leicester and apple strudel.

This week’s biggest faller was the apricots, which were 19% cheaper year on year while the Innocent smoothies were down 18% and the McVitie’s Jaffa Jonuts fell 14%.

Morrisons recorded the highest level of inflation this time out with its prices up 15.1% year on year. At £65.74 it was £6.10 more expensive than Asda –  this week’s cheapest retailer – though Asda’s £59.64 was also above the average at 13.6%.

In second place was Sainsbury’s. It offered the lowest price for 17 products and was exclusively cheapest for seven lines including the Birds Eye chicken pies, Cadbury hot chocolate powder and the little gem lettuce. Sainsbury’s also had the lowest level of inflation with its prices up just 5.4% year on year while its prices were down 1.8% month on month.

Tesco came in £3.64 more expensive than Asda at £63.28, though the gap would have been reduced to just 89p after factoring in Clubcard Prices.

As to Waitrose, despite kicking off a new September pricing initiative this week and annual inflation of just 7.2%, it was £13.49 pricier than Asda at £73.13.