By Worst to come for food price rises, says Tesco boss
The chairman of Britain’s largest supermarket has said that the worst is yet to come in regards to rising food prices.
Speaking to the BBC, Tesco’s John Allan warned that he fears those on the tightest budgets may have to choose between food and heating as living costs continue to rise.
He added that even large suppliers were not immune from rising energy costs, which may in turn contribute to an increase in food costs.
In the last three months, Tesco’s food price inflation has managed to be contained to around 1%.
But John Allan estimated that supermarket prices could rise as much as 5% by the spring.
He said: “We are impacted by rising energy prices, our suppliers are impacted by rising energy prices. So the likelihood is that that inflation figure will rise.
“I think the combination of increasing energy prices, the impact of National Insurance increases [in April] on people’s incomes, and to a much much lesser extent increasing food prices, is going to squeeze the hardest-up still harder.”
Mr Allan added that the prospect of people having to choose between food and heating “troubles us, and I’m sure troubles many people…
“That’s clearly not a situation that any of us should tolerate.”
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