Cost of supermarket staples jumps by 8% in one year

Supermarket staples have increased by 8% across Britain’s supermarkets, according to the latest figures from the BBC.

The average cost of essential household items at Big 4 grocers Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco was tracked by retail research firm Assosia.

The data showed that the overall price of a basket of 15 standard food items – including staples such as pasta, tinned tomatoes and strawberry jam – rose by £1.32 in 2021.

The company recorded more than 17,000 price increases in January, more than double the number in the same month last year. The increases spanned across every category, with the price of some staples increasing by more than 40%.

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The news comes after figures released last month from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed that shoppers are facing the highest price rises for almost ten years, with price rises reaching the highest rate since October 2013.

Assosia director Kay Staniland said the findings were a result of selecting popular products that were comparable across both value and standard ranges of value and standard.

“Looking at food prices is a bit of a minefield,” she told the BBC.

“I think the figures show that retailers are trying to avoid the biggest increases to value lines as much as possible. But these value lines do make up a small part of total ranges. The standard mid-tier range is where the largest volume of sales come from.”

Asda recently extended its budget range across all of its supermarkets and online, following a series of attention-grabbing tweets from anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe.

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