What the Breakfast Index Told Us About Rampant UK Food Inflation
- Easing price pressures are finally bringing relief to shoppers
- But the cost of a fry-up is still close to last summer’s high
The Breakfast Index reflected the human impact of the worst inflationary shock to hit Britain in decades.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergIn the months after Russia invaded Ukraine, a wave of food inflation spread across the world. Britain was not spared, with price pressures triggering a row between supermarkets and their suppliers, while shoppers were left “terrified” by the impending cost of living crisis. It was in this context that Bloomberg decided to track the effect on regular households by zoning in on one of the country’s best-known exports — an English fry-up. The Breakfast Index was born.
That was July 2022. The Office for National Statistics had estimated overall UK food inflation at 9.8% for June and in subsequent months it soared into the double-digits. Today, however, grocery inflation is easing — back down to 8% in December. With economists predicting a year of falling price pressures ahead, it is an opportune time to ask what the index revealed.