Several supermarket food costs "should soon drop".

According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), supermarkets will begin passing on cost savings for milk and other dairy products as a result of decreases in wholesale costs.

It comes as new data from the industry group showed that food costs increased 15.7% last month compared to April 2022.

Sainsbury's denied claims that their pricing was too high last week.

The rejection followed inquiries into why a decline in food costs at the wholesale level internationally had not yet resulted in decreases in the prices paid by UK grocers.

Customers should "start seeing food prices come down in the coming months as the cut to wholesale prices and other cost pressures filter through," according to Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC.

The effects of higher food costs have been felt by many households.

According to data from the BRC-NielsenIQ store pricing index, while food inflation as a whole increased in the year to April, the increase in fresh food costs last month reached 17.8%.

The World Bank, which works to find ways to lessen poverty in developing nations, has stated that it anticipates wholesale food costs to decline by 8% by the end of this year.

However, grocery stores have countered that such falls take time to reach the shelves. BRC claims there is a 3-to 9-month lag before lower wholesale prices are reflected in retail pricing.

The BRC said that while total food costs increased in April, inflation—the rate at which prices rise for both food and non-food items—had decreased slightly to 8.8%.

However, just because the inflation rate has decreased does not always suggest that prices are dropping; rather, it just indicates that prices are not growing as rapidly.

The BRC stated that "heavy spring discounting in clothing, footwear, and furniture" was the reason for the small slowdown in total price increases in stores in April.

(bbc.co.uk, brc.org.uk)