Grocery bosses will face MPs on Tuesday but there are signs food price rises are slowing.
Supermarket executives will be questioned by MPs on Tuesday over why food prices are still rising as some wholesale costs are falling.
British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: "If the current situation continues, food inflation should drop to single digits later this year."the overall rate of inflation in the UK remains stubbornly highAnd with many hard-pressed households also facing rising rents or mortgage costs, there is pressure on the supermarkets to defend the high cost of shopping.
The grocers say they are cutting prices where they can, arguing falls in commodity prices take time to filter through to the consumer. As well as pointing to recent price cuts, the executives are likely to tell the committee that not all commodities have been falling in price, said Ged Futter, a retail analyst and former senior buying manager at Asda.
"They won't get a new price until they get into a new contract. Just because prices have gone down globally that doesn't mean the price here goes down immediately," he said. He said the only way supermarkets could lower their prices was by asking suppliers to cut costs, but he added: "We're certainly not in the position to start giving cost decreases on our products.
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