Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury's shoppers warned over buying four shelf 'staples'

Tesco, Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury's shoppers have been warned over buying four household staples. The price of chocolate, olive oil, butter or lamb could skyrocket in the wake of Christmas, Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury's shoppers have been warned.

British Retail Consortium (BRC) chief executive Helen Dickinson said there was “little hope of prices going anywhere but up” as retailers look to mitigate higher employer National Insurance costs. Ms Dickinson said: “As retailers battle the £7 billion of increased costs in 2025 from the Budget, including higher employer NI, National Living Wage, and new packaging levies, there is little hope of prices going anywhere but up. Modelling by the BRC and retail chief financial officers suggest food prices will rise by an average of 4.2% in the latter half of the year, while non-food will return firmly to inflation.

“Government can still take steps to mitigate these price pressures, and it must ensure that its proposed reforms to business rates do not result in any stores paying more in rates than they do already.” CIPS Chief Executive, Ben Farrell MBE, said: "Going into 2025 what is clear from our research is that there are a number of strategic challenges that are likely to disrupt the smooth flow of goods and services.

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"These will present particular challenges for consumers, who are likely to be disproportionately impacted unless these issues are managed effectively." Predicted rises include butter at 1.8%, lamb and goat at 10.6% rise, butter at 7.7% and olive oil prices at 26.5%.

Ms Dickinson said: “Retailers discounted heavily for Black Friday this year as they attempted to make up for weaker sales earlier in the year. However, the later Black Friday timing brought many of the non-food discounts into the measurement period, making non-food prices look more deflationary than the underlying trend. With food inflation bottoming out at 1.8%, and many price pressures on the horizon, shop price deflation is likely to become a thing of the past.”

Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NielsenIQ, said: “During December, shoppers benefited from both lower inflation than last year and bigger discounts as both food and non-food retailers were keen to drive sales after a slow start to the quarter. However, higher household costs are unlikely to dissipate anytime soon so retailers will need to carefully manage any inflationary pressure in the months ahead.”