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The average price of Christmas dinner is expected to rise by around 10 per cent this year compared to last December, as inflation continues to weigh on household budgets, new data shows.
The average price of a turkey meal for four people is expected to cost around £31 this festive season, according to research by Kantar published on Tuesday – up 9.3 per cent on 2021.
Frozen turkeys will cost 15 percent more than last year, while potatoes are up 20 percent and parsnips are up 30 percent, the data show.
UK grocery price inflation eased in November but remained close to a 14-year high as British consumers continued to face a crisis of living over the festive season.
The rate fell 0.1 percent to 14.6 percent last month, Kantar said on Tuesday, representing the first month-on-month decline since April 2021. The fastest price increases were in milk, dog food and butter.
Kantar’s figures contrast with a report from the British Retail Consortium, a trade body, which said food prices rose 12.4 percent last month, up from 11.6 percent in October.
“Grocery inflation still has a long way to go,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insights at Kantar. “Based on current rates, shoppers would spend an extra £60 in December to buy the same items as last year.”
The data also pointed to a possible slowdown in headline inflation this month after UK inflation hit a 41-year high of 11.1 percent in October. The Office for National Statistics will release its November figures next week.
“If there is any good news, it is that we are nearing the peak of food price inflation,” said Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics.
“Global agricultural commodity prices have fallen by 25 percent in the last few months,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time before it filters down into food prices.”
Grocery prices have been rising for almost two years, accelerating following cuts to gas imports from Russia, as Moscow cut supplies as part of its invasion of Ukraine, which has pushed up energy bills for UK homes and businesses.
Separate ONS data shows that rising grocery prices are hitting the poorest households hardest. The bottom 10 percent of households in terms of income spend nearly a fifth of their weekly income on food, a greater proportion than any other income group.
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