The latest data from Kantar shows that grocery prices for consumers were 4.7% higher in the 12 weeks to 18 February than a year earlier.

Business development director Emer Healy said that this means inflation is at its lowest point since April 2022.

She added that the decline is expected to continue gradually throughout this year.

Looking at the grocery market, Kantar said that supermarkets were working hard with post-Christmas promotions to encourage spending.

In the period covered by this report, over 27% of all spending was made on items with some promotional offer.

Own-label growth

Supermarket own-label brands now hold 46% market share, with growth in that segment well ahead of broader growth in retail sales. The popularity of online grocery shopping also continues to increase, with sales up 17.3% since a year ago.

Of the major supermarkets, Dunnes has 24.3% of the market, with Tesco at 23.5%. SuperValu is in third place at just over 20%. When taken together, Aldi and Lidl account for 23.7% of the market.

Kantar’s grocery inflation calculation is based on a basket of 30,000 products.

As the inflation reading is based on the same products being bought from year to year, an individual shopper could have lower inflation by buying cheaper alternatives.