London, Thanasis Gavos

at 15% has increased in March food inflation in the United Kingdomaccording to the British Retail Consortium.

That’s a further annual rise in prices from February’s corresponding 14.5% and the highest since 2005 for which data is kept by the agency for that particular component of inflation.

THE greater increase concerns fresh foodin which the rate of price increase reaches 17%.

This is attributed to the lack of fruit and vegetables observed in the previous weeks on the British market due to unusually bad weather conditions in the countries of southern Europe and northern Africa from which Britain is currently importing these foods.

At the same time, domestic production in greenhouses decreased due to increased energy costs.

Particular increases are also recorded in chocolates and sweets due to the rising price of sugars in the world market.

The Consortium emphasizes that high food inflation mainly affects the economically weaker households, as they spend a larger percentage of their total income on their food.

According to separate figures from the Office for National Statistics, food inflation is even higher, reaching 18.2% in February.

Polling firm Kantar also carried out research showing that the average household pays £837 more a year for food because of punctuality.

In the country’s large supermarkets, prices in March were up by 18.5% compared to 12 months earlier.