Data from the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index shows overall prices at food retailers were down 0.5 percent year-on-year, having fallen 0.4 percent in October, the sixth consecutive month of decreasing prices. The fall is reportedly due in part to retailers pushing for larger discounts to encourage consumers to spend in the run up to the Christmas period and a weakening on fresh food inflation.
Various factors could still lead to increasing food costs in the longer term, including the impact of recent flooding in the UK on root vegetable yields and the rising price of meat globally. A No-Deal Brexit remains another major concern, which may lead to EU imports, which account for 30 percent of food consumed in the UK, increasing in cost.