Food: Prices

(asked on 28th February 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help reduce food inflation.


Answered by
Mark Spencer Portrait
Mark Spencer
Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 7th March 2023

I recognise the impact high food prices are having on household budgets. High food prices are the result of many different factors, including agri-food commodity import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour and other manufacturing costs such as fuel and energy, as well as Sterling exchange rates. Of these factors, farmgate prices are seen to be the most influential driver of food prices.

The Government has already committed £37 billion to support households with the current exceptionally high cost of living. £1 billion of this has gone towards help with the cost of household essentials.

The most recent food inflation statistics published by the Office for National Statistics, showed that in January 2023, food inflation was 16.8%. Food inflation is higher than overall inflation given the multiple pressures across the food chain.

The Government has little influence on consumer food prices. The UK has a very competitive food retail sector which helps to keep some downward pressure on food prices. We continue to work with food retailers and producers to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food. To help with increased cost of living, retailers have introduced incentives for customers such as new reward cards offering discounts or “cashback” on future purchases. A number of stores are also offering meal deals either in store or within their cafes to help vulnerable groups.

The Government has taken action to help alleviate inflationary pressure across the food chain by expanding the number of seasonal workers visas for horticulture to 45,000 this year and initiated an Independent Labour Review to provide recommendations on how labour pressures could be addressed. The Government has also provided energy bill support via the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, cut tariffs to reduce feed costs, improved avian influenza compensation schemes and taken a range of measures on fertilisers.

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