Category Archives: Supermarkets

UK supermarket food prices up by more than 25% in two years, says Which?

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Retailers should be forced to display detailed price information on loyalty card deals, says consumer group

Supermarket food prices have increased by more than 25% over the past two years according to the consumer group Which?, with the size of the rise reinforcing the case for retailers to be forced to display detailed price information on loyalty card offers and promotions so shoppers can find the best deal.

Which? said the government needed to close loopholes that result in “confusing and inconsistent” pricing practices of some supermarkets. Last month it reported Tesco to the UK’s competition watchdog because it does not provide unit prices – such as the price for each 100g or 100ml – for the loyalty card offers it uses as a sales tactic to pull in shoppers.

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Food inflation starting to fall, says Sainsbury’s as sales rise

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Like-for-like sales up 9.8% in quarter and supermarket says it has put more than £60m into cutting prices of basics

Food inflation is starting to fall, according to the boss of Sainsbury’s, who said shoppers were putting more items in their baskets as it began to cut prices on some basics.

Simon Roberts, the chief executive, said the supermarket was “putting all our energy and focus into battling inflation” as household budgets were “under more pressure than ever”.

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Guards at Del Monte pineapple farm in Kenya accused of killings

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An investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative journalism has uncovered claims from villagers in Kenya of violence and even killings linked to guards on a Del Monte pineapple farm. Emily Dugan reports


Emily Dugan, a senior reporter with the Guardian who has been working on a story with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism for the past few months, tells Michael Safi how they uncovered claims from villagers living near Thika, in Kenya, of guards assaulting and killing people suspected of trespassing on one of the country’s biggest pineapple farms, owned by Del Monte.

The guards are typically armed with wooden clubs called rungus. Their use in security is legal and common in Kenya because of the risk of violent theft, including from young men who regularly go in organised groups to steal pineapples, but the claims suggest the guards’ use of violence has been excessive.

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Shop price inflation easing, say top UK retailers before key meeting with MPs

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British Retail Consortium says figure eased to 8.4% in June from 9% in May

Britain’s biggest retailers have said shop price inflation is easing ahead of a crunch meeting with MPs on Tuesday over the soaring cost of groceries, but warned food prices were continuing to rise at near record rates.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said annual inflation in overall shop prices eased to 8.4% in June, down from 9% in May, as retailers cut the price of many staples including milk, cheese and eggs. Clothing and electrical goods prices also fell ahead of the summer holidays.

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Investigation reveals UK’s freshest and least fresh online groceries

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Shoppers for consumer group Which? ordered 1,800 items to test the average shelf life at six retailers

From out-of-date frankfurters to bashed brie, online food shopping can be a lottery, especially when it comes to the groceries’ shelf life, according to an investigation by the consumer group Which?.

Groceries delivered by Sainsbury’s were found to have the shortest average time left before their use-by dates, according to the items received by a team of 12 mystery shoppers located around the UK.

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Kenya human rights commission to investigate alleged killings on pineapple farm

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Commission ‘concerned and disturbed’ by claims of lethal violence by security guards on Del Monte farm

Kenya’s national human rights body has launched an investigation into allegations of killings and assaults by security guards at a Del Monte pineapple farm in Thika that supplies most British supermarkets.

A joint investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) published earlier this week uncovered claims from villagers of violence by guards at the plantation, including three alleged killings in the last four years.

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Why is inflation in the UK worse than in other major economies?

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While the rate has fallen from its October peak of 11.1%, the figure for May is expected to stay stubbornly high

UK inflation is expected to have remained stubbornly high in May despite a string of forecasts earlier this year predicting a sharp fall in response to tumbling energy prices.

Official figures are expected to show on Wednesday that the UK’s consumer prices index (CPI) eased slightly last month, to 8.4%, from 8.7% in April.

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Grocery inflation in Great Britain eases to 16.5% but remains high

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Supermarket inflation slows to lowest rate this year, although households still under pressure

Supermarket inflation in Great Britain has eased to its lowest level this year but remains high, forcing people to change how they eat and cook as household budgets are strained, according to the data firm Kantar.

Grocery inflation declined to 16.5% in the four weeks to 11 June, down from 17.2% last month and a record 17.5% in March. It remains at its sixth-highest level since the financial crisis in 2008, Kantar said.

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Ban on two-for-one junk food deals to be delayed for two more years

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Rishi Sunak says he is suspending anti-obesity measure to avoid restricting consumer options during cost of living crisis

The government is to delay its planned ban on two-for-one junk food deals – a key anti-obesity measure – for another two years amid the cost of living crisis.

Rishi Sunak will shelve the expected measure targeting multi-buy promotions on products high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) to avoid restricting consumer options while prices remain high.

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Tesco boss: food inflation has probably peaked but prices will stay high

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Ken Murphy says higher costs of grocery imports because of Brexit are partly to blame for rising prices

The chief executive of Tesco has said food inflation has probably peaked but warns that prices are likely to stay high.

Ken Murphy, the head of the UK’s biggest supermarket chain, said the price of milk, bread, cooking oil and some vegetables such as broccoli had come down this month but inflation continued in other essentials, including rice and potatoes, as aweather issues and locked-in increases in the price of labour and energy continued to bite.

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Rise in UK breweries going bust amid thirst for cheaper craft beers

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45 breweries, mostly smaller makers, enter insolvency in last 12 months, up from 15 the previous year

The number of UK breweries going out of business has tripled in the past year, with smaller craft beer manufacturers most at risk as consumers opt for cheaper options during the cost of living crisis, according to research.

In total, 45 breweries entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 31 March, compared with 15 in the previous year, according to the most recent official Insolvency Service statistics analysed by Mazars, an audit, tax and advisory firm.

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No point in food price measures without targeting small stores, Which? warns

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Consumer group tells chancellor ‘blanket approach’ will not address poor households’ access to affordable food

UK ministers’ efforts to reduce soaring food shopping bills “won’t touch the sides” without measures to make small grocery stores more affordable for low-income households, the chancellor has been warned.

Which?, the consumer group, has written to Jeremy Hunt over concerns that a blanket approach to lowering supermarket bills will not address the problem of accessibility to affordable food, after reports that ministers are considering a voluntary price cap scheme.

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UK supermarkets cut diesel prices by 7p a litre after watchdog concerns

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Reduction follows CMA plans to grill executives about ‘sustained higher margins’ but RAC says retailers should go further

Supermarkets have cut more than 7p a litre from the price of diesel since the UK’s competition watchdog warned it would question retail bosses about unnecessarily high forecourt prices, according to the RAC.

The motoring group found that the average price of diesel fell by 7.44p a litre, from 151.02p two weeks ago to 143.58p this week, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised concerns that retailers were making “sustained higher margins” from sales of diesel.

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Why it’s not quite back to the 70s with talk of food price controls

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Statutory caps were brought in under Heath, now the government wants a voluntary store scheme to meet Sunak’s pledge to halve inflation

A cost-of-living crisis. Pressure on the government to step in to help hard-pressed consumers. Calls for supermarkets to cut prices on staple food items. Substitute Rishi Sunak for Ted Heath, step into a time capsule and journey back to Britain in 1972.

Let’s be clear: ministers are not considering imposing the sort of statutory price controls on a loaf of bread, a pint of milk or a bar of soap that were put in place half a century ago. Not now and not ever, according to Whitehall sources. But it has emerged that Sunak and his team are certainly not averse to the big supermarkets coming up with their own voluntary agreement to reduce the cost of the weekly shop.

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Australia should increase competition to fight ‘excessive pricing’ by supermarkets, Rod Sims says

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Former regulator head’s comments follow Guardian Australia analysis which shows Coles and Woolworths increased profit margins during cost-of-living crisis

The former competition watchdog head Rod Sims says Australia’s big supermarkets have likely used their market power to increase prices higher than necessary during a cost-of-living crisis and that the government should consider reforming merger laws to limit their dominance.

Sims, who retired as the chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last year, said Coles and Woolworths have little to worry about when making pricing decisions because they control two-thirds of the market.

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Co-op members and board at odds over AGM vote on chicken welfare

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Motion to adopt Better Chicken Commitment carried by 96%, but directors cited need for low prices

Feathers are flying at the Co-operative Group after thousands of its members voted to improve welfare for chickens reared for meat at the annual meeting on Saturday – but were partly overruled by the company’s directors, who said they wanted to keep prices down.

A motion led by the Humane League UK campaign group asked the mutual to adopt the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) – a set of standards adopted by the likes of Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and the Greggs bakery chain – and report on welfare improvements in a year’s time. It was supported by 96% of the 32,000 Co-op members who voted at the AGM.

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Tesco chair to stand down after allegations of inappropriate behaviour

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John Allan, a prominent business leader and former CBI president, to leave role at AGM on 16 June

John Allan will stand down as chair of Tesco after allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

Allan, who has been chair of the UK’s biggest supermarket since 2015, will stand down at the retailer’s annual meeting on 16 June.

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Asda plans 5% pay cut for about 7,000 workers just outside London

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Supermarket is consulting about removing a 60p an hour supplement at 39 stores outside M25 despite the cost of living crisis

Asda is planning to cut pay for about 7,000 workers in stores close to London by about 5% despite the surge in the cost of living in Britain.

The UK’s third biggest supermarket, which was bought by the billionaire Issa brothers and private equity firm TDR Capital in 2020, said it was in consultation about removing a 60p an hour supplement from workers at 39 stores sited outside the M25 but near to the capital.

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No 10 food summit ‘no more than a PR stunt’ and failed to tackle key issues

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Rishi Sunak’s Farm to Fork meeting, the first of its kind, failed to address solutions to inflation, soaring costs and food security, say attenders

Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street food summit has been described as “empty" by food and farming industry representatives, who rounded on the prime minister for failing to discuss soaring inflation or set out measures to safeguard British food production.

The Farm to Fork summit, the first meeting of its kind, brought together farmers, food producers and some of Britain’s largest supermarkets.

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The ‘coronation effect’: UK high street shelves being cleared of quiche and fizz

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Party products, including bunting, flying off shelves, with Britons forecast to spend £200m on weekend festivities

High street retailers are reporting a “coronation effect” sales boost as shoppers make a last-minute dash to the shops to stock up on party fare including bunting, champagne and cakes for this weekend’s celebrations.

With potentially more than £200m of extra sales riding on the festivities surrounding the coronation of King Charles, retailers’ shelves are being cleared of fizz, quiche, scones as well as buffet favourites such as pork pies and scotch eggs.

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