MILK and cheese prices were responsible for keeping inflation at a 40-year high, as food prices continue to soar in the UK.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the annual rate of inflation saw a small fall to 10.5% in December, but food inflation hit the highest rate since 1977.
Staples, such as milk, cheese and eggs, rose by 4.1% between November and December. While prices for bread and cereal also rose, it was more slowly than in the same month for 2021.
The slight decrease in overall inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, could be attributed, said the ONS, to the fall in the price of fuel.
Patty Clayton, lead analyst at AHDB dairy, said the figures were to be expected following the price hikes which had occurred earlier in the year.
She said: Consumers have been paying far too low a price for a long time, so have faced a rapid increase to keep up with general inflation.
This was accelerated by inflationary costs in other areas, such as production, which has been hit by energy price rises, and supply, as processors have had to encourage farmers to keep the milk flowing.
Ms Clayton said cheese too had been held back in terms of retail price.
She said: For the cheese sector, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are still in evidence, with stocks remaining low.
Retail demand had been bolstered so much by the pandemic and our domestic stocks have not been able to catch up with retail demand, which has fuelled the retail price inflation.
It is important to note that both of those products, in terms of retail pricing, have not kept up with general food inflation, so part of the recent increase is almost to catch up.
Jack Watts, NFU chief value chain analyst, said: It is not surprising that food inflation has remained high, given farmers and growers are seeing spiralling production costs, particularly those linked to high energy use.
In some cases, we have seen energy costs increase by 300%. This is on top of fertiliser, fuel and feed price increases. We simply cannot produce affordable food without affordable energy.
