More pain for British consumers as grocery prices rise

By James Davey

LONDON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - British grocery prices increased
1.7% in the four weeks to Oct. 3 year-on-year, market researcher
Kantar said on Tuesday, adding to pressure on households already
facing soaring energy bills.

With inflationary pressures mounting in the British economy,
one Bank of England policymaker on Saturday told households to
get ready for early interest rate rises.

A survey published on Monday by pollsters YouGov and
consultancy CEBR meanwhile said consumer confidence has fallen
to a five-month low.

Kantar said prices are rising fastest in markets such as
savoury snacks, cat food and crisps while falling in fresh bacon
and vegetables.

"In real world terms, the average household had to spend an
extra 5.94 pounds ($8.08) on groceries last month than they did
at the same time last year," said Fraser McKevitt, head of
retail and consumer insight at Kantar.

"The typical household spends 4,726 pounds per year in the
supermarkets, so any future price rises will quickly add up."

Kantar first reported grocery prices starting to rise again
in August. They rose 1.3% in its September report.

However, Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket
group, said last week that its prices were still falling.

Kantar said UK grocery sales fell 1.2% year-on-year in the
12 weeks to Oct. 3, but were higher than pre-pandemic times - up
8.1% compared with the same period in 2019.

It noted that some shoppers' minds are starting to turn to
Christmas, with sales of Christmas puddings up 76% year-on-year
in the latest four weeks, sales of toys up 5% and sales of gift
wrapping products up 10%.

"It's important to say, however, that these are still
relatively small numbers and anxiety around supply issues has
not translated to panic buying – festive or otherwise," said
McKevitt.

The reduced availability of fuel meant people limited the
number of trips they made to supermarkets in the past four
weeks.

The average household made 15.5 store visits in the past
four weeks, the lowest monthly figure since February.

Conversely the proportion of groceries bought online rose to
12.4% from 12.2% in September.

Tesco, which raised its profit outlook last week, saw its
market share increase 0.6 percentage points over the 12 weeks,
hitting 27.5% - its highest level since February 2019.

($1 = 0.7350 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Catherine Evans)