Warning of store closures in the UK as shop prices continue to fall

The decline in the cost of goods in British stores accelerated in September as the nation’s retailers cut prices in the face of stiff competition and increasingly frugal consumers, according to the British Retail Consortium.

It marks the fourth consecutive month in which shop prices in the U.K. have fallen, with the rate of decline gathering pace in recent months

Prices slipped as the cost of nonfood items continued to fall while food inflation–which reached nearly six-year highs earlier in the year–eased.

Overall, shop prices were 0.6% lower last month than in September 2018, according to figures gathered by the BRC and market research group Nielsen. That represents a faster rate of decline than in August, when prices fell 0.4%.

Nonfood prices fell 1.7% in September, while food inflation eased to a rate of 1.1%. In particular, fresh food inflation fell significantly, to a rate of 0.7%, half the 1.4% growth rate seen in August. Price inflation of food items with a long shelf life, or ‘ambient food’, slowed to 1.7%.

Via Market Watch