Grocery prices rise at fastest pace since 2016
The prices of Irish groceries rose by an annual 2.6% over the Easter period, the fastest since August 2016.
The re-emergence of price inflation across the big five supermarkets as well as at M&S, Boots, Spar, and Centra, is confirmed in the latest report by market research firm Kantar.
For long, the prices of many grocery items had barely risen, probably helped by the slump in sterling against the euro since the UK’s Brexit vote in the summer of 2016.
Large volumes of grocery items are sourced from across the Irish Sea, which means prices in Irish supermarkets can be driven by the value of sterling.
The Kantar report also found that spending on 30,000 grocery items in the 12 weeks through April 21, which included the Easter period, came in at almost €2.56bn, up 4.1% from a year earlier.
Kantar said over €208m was spent in Easter week. In the 12 weeks of the survey, with a share of 22.2%, Dunnes secured the largest part of the €2.56bn spend. It was followed by Tesco on 21.8% and SuperValu with a share of 21.4%.
Aldi and Lidl secured shares of 11.9% and 11.5%. In the Republic, the big five supermarkets control almost 89% of the market between them.
“Encouragingly for Dunnes, shoppers appear to be happy to spend more in-store. The average price paid at the retailer is up 1.9% on last year, generating an extra €10m in sales,” said Douglas Faughnan at Kantar.
“Tesco’s own label offer now accounts for 47% of its sales and is increasing at 4.3%, boosting the retailer’s overall performance,” while SuperValu was boosted by “a robust performance in fresh food,” he said.
Aldi and Lidl put on sales across the country.
