(Sharecast News) - The price of cough and cold medicine rose by 10.7% last week as retailers take advantage of the rise in demand due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that a number of UK retailers recorded a sharp increase in prices over the week ending 29 March when compared to the prior seven-day stretch.
The rise was seen among a set of "high-demand products" such as cough medicine. This is due to the fact that coughing is one of the main symptom of the coronavirus.
Other items such as pet food and paracetamol were up by just over 2% while handwash and toilet rolls were up only marginally.
Overall, the basket of 22 high-demand products saw prices on average rise by 1.1%.
The British Retail Consortium has raised concerns that businesses might seek to exploit the situation.
The supermarket industry has seen a positive result from the pandemic as shoppers spent ?1.9bn on stockpiling groceries ahead of the UK lockdown.
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