Britain's food prices soar by 8.3 pct -report
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Food prices have risen by 8.3 percent since the beginning of the year amid fears that Britain is facing the worst economic conditions in decades, a report said Friday.
The study conducted by Verdict Research for the BBC indicated that essential commodities such as meat and fish have risen by 22.9 percent, with the price of vegetables and fresh fruit up by 14.7 percent.
Some individual food items have witnessed an almost 50 percent jump in value.
The figures come amid an already gloomy economic outlook about the housing sector and fuel prices. New car sales -- a key indicator of consumer confidence -- fell to their lowest level since 1966.
The data collected by Verdict since January, tracked the cost of typical food items used by households by dividing them into 13 categories like frozen foods, fresh fruit and vegetables, ready meals and dairy goods.
According to the index, meat and fish prices were the fastest rising categories with store-cupboard items up 15 percent.
Seven items in the survey were found to have gone up in price by more than 40 percent.
Supermarkets said sales of own-brand items are climbing at 6 percent, twice the rate of more expensive branded products.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) pointed out that food price inflation over the past year amounted to 10 percent. Inflation is at 4.4 percent and the Bank of England expects it to peak at 5 percent.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Tuesday that
The Paris-based think-tank predicted that the