Supermarkets: Coronavirus

(asked on 25th March 2020) - 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 assessment he has made of the accuracy of reports that supermarkets are raising prices for basic staple foods during the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 21st April 2020

It is not for the UK Government to set retail food prices or comment on day-to-day commercial decisions. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has developed a timely indication of price change for high-demand products (HDP) covering the period 16 March to 5 April 2020. A weekly index is being produced for each of these items. In the most recently published release (week to 5 April) prices for food items in the HDP basket were 0.4% higher than the base period starting 16 March.

These are not national statistics and Government will also continue to monitor the monthly Consumer Prices Index including Housing Costs (CPIH) for food prices.

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