UK food price inflation

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), series D7G8. Monthly, usually a Wednesday in the middle of the month, 7am; next release 21 October 2026

UK food price inflation: every value, by year, with a CSV download →

What it measures

Food inflation here is the 12-month rate of the food and non-alcoholic beverages part of the Consumer Prices Index. It covers food and soft drinks bought to eat or drink at home, such as bread, meat, fruit, vegetables, dairy, coffee and bottled water. Meals out, takeaways and alcohol are counted elsewhere in CPI. Prices are collected each month from shops across the UK and from retailers' data, and the result shows how much more the same basket of food costs than a year before.

How to read it

A lower rate means food prices are rising more slowly, not falling; food only gets cheaper on average when the rate is below zero. Individual items can move very differently from the average, so the ONS publishes rates for groups such as bread and cereals or milk, cheese and eggs. A shopper who switches to cheaper ranges will see a different change from the fixed-basket measure. Food is only one part of the CPI basket, so its effect on headline inflation is smaller than its own rate. Industry price monitors use different shop samples and dates and will not match the ONS figure.

Background

The ONS series starts in January 1989. Food prices were lower than a year earlier in several spells, including every month from July 2014 to January 2017, when the lowest rate, minus 3.3%, was recorded in February 2015, and from November 2020 to July 2021. The highest rate in the series, 19.1%, was in March 2023. The rate then fell, reaching 1.3% in August 2024. Food prices still rose throughout that period; only the speed of the rise slowed.

Other parts of the UK

ONS consumer price inflation bulletin (UK only; no official regional CPI is published)

What is the food inflation rate in the UK?

When this page was checked on 13 October 2026, the ONS 12-month rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages was 1.3% in August 2026, published on 16 September 2026. The figure at the top of this page updates automatically when the ONS publishes. The next CPI release was due on 21 October 2026.

Are food prices going down in the UK?

On average they fall only when the food inflation rate is negative. In the ONS series that last happened in July 2021. A falling but positive rate means prices are still higher than a year earlier, rising more slowly. Some individual items do get cheaper while the average rises.

Why did food prices rise so much in 2022 and 2023?

The ONS bulletins at the time reported which food groups rose most. The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Reports from 2022 and 2023 discuss the causes, including higher global food commodity, energy and fertiliser costs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

How much have food prices gone up since 2020?

Compare index levels, not annual rates: the ONS publishes the food and non-alcoholic beverages index (series D7BU) as well as the rates. Divide the latest index value by the value for the starting month to get the total rise. Adding up annual rates gives the wrong answer.

Related questions

• What is the current UK inflation rate?
• Is UK inflation going down?
• How much food does the UK import?
• How many people face food insecurity in the UK?
• How is UK inflation measured?

More on this source: UK Statistics Authority and Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR)