(Alliance News) - UK shop price inflation ebbed to a more than three-year low in March, numbers on Tuesday showed.
According to the latest British Retail Consortium-NielsenIQ shop price index, annual shop price inflation eased to 1.3% in March, down from 2.5% in February.
The reading was also short of the three-month average inflation rate of 2.2%.
"Shop price annual growth is its lowest since December 2021," the BRC said.
Non-food inflation fell to 0.2% in March, down from 1.3% in February, below the three-month average rate of 0.9%.
Food inflation decelerated to 3.7% in March, down from 5.0% in February, the lowest reading since April 2022. It was below the three-month average of 4.8% and the tenth consecutive deceleration in the food category.
Fresh food inflation slowed further in March, to 2.6%, down from 3.4% in February, while ambient food inflation decelerated to 5.2% in March, down from 7.2% in February.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight, NielsenIQ, said: "The slowdown in inflation continues and a key driver this month was a further fall in food prices. A year ago, food inflation was 15% so this was to be expected."
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said the fall came as "retailers continued to compete fiercely to bring prices down for their customers."
"While Easter treats were more expensive than in previous years due to high global cocoa and sugar prices, retailers provided cracking deals on popular chocolates, which led to price falls compared to the previous month."
"Dairy prices also fell on the month as farmgate prices eased, and retailers worked hard to lower prices for many essentials. In non-food, prices of electricals, clothing and footwear fell as retailers increased promotions to entice consumer spending," she added.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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