UK-based consumer group Which? has called on the UK Government to take appropriate action on the rising grocery pricing.
The consumer group revealed that supermarket prices rose by 25.8% between June 2021 and June 2023.
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According to the regulator, food prices rose due to increased costs of animal feed, fertiliser, fuel, energy and labour.
This comes in response to an investigation launched by the competition regulator Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into unit pricing practices in the country’s grocery sector earlier this year.
The investigation revealed that some food prices have jumped by as much as 175% since 2021.
Reuters reported that the review was conducted on more than 21,000 food and drink products at retailers, including Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
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By GlobalDataReuters added that the CMA had not previously found evidence of rising grocery pricing and will update on competition and pricing in the grocery sector this month.
Which? was quoted by the news agency as saying: “If competition issues are found, the CMA should be ready to take appropriate action.”
Meanwhile, UK supermarkets have rejected accusations of benefiting from the cost-of-living crisis.
Retailers had not passed on all the cost pressures they experienced to consumers, Reuters reported citing the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “The hard work being done by retailers to absorb cost increases means the UK offers among the cheapest grocery prices in Europe.”
