Senior executives from four of the major supermarkets will be questioned by MPs this week on the rising cost of groceries, as they face mounting pressure to offer a wider range of essential products at cheaper prices.
While average inflation for food and non-alcoholic drinks rose by 18.4% in the year to May, the executives are likely to be challenged on why some meat products and vegetables have almost doubled in price.
They will also be questioned over profit margins, competition in the supply chain and when shoppers can expect to see significant falls in prices.
The grocery sector is already being examined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to establish whether any failure in competition is contributing to higher grocery prices.
David Potts, the chief executive of Morrisons, is among those due to be questioned by MPs on the business and trade committee.
Senior figures from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda are also due to give evidence at Tuesday’s hearing.
The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said last week that weekly shopping bills had “gone up far too much in the past few months”. He added: “We’re looking at the supermarkets, making sure that they’re behaving responsibly and fairly when it comes to pricing all those products.”
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will meet regulators this week to discuss how best to ensure that falling production costs are “passed on to consumers”.
The CMA said last month it had not seen evidence pointing to specific competition concerns in the grocery sector, but was examining it to ensure that weak competition was not increasing prices.
The consumer group Which? has said urgent action is required to help shoppers faced with soaring grocery costs, including wider availability of essential budget items in smaller stores and more promotions for healthy foods.
Michelle Morris, a professor in data science for food at Leeds university and the Consumer Data Research Centre, which has produced a Priority Places for Food Index in collaboration with Which?, said the government should implement its regulations on multi-buy deals on foods high in fat, salt or sugar, which have now been delayed until October 2025. She added: “Supermarkets need to ensure a wide range of affordable budget lines are available in all their stores. It could be quite straightforward to do and we know it’s not happening.”
The Food & Drink Federation (FDF), which represents UK food manufacturers, said that price rises were a “last resort” and manufacturers were continuing to absorb “as much as they can” of their increased input costs.
An FDF spokesperson said: “It is worrying that not all input costs are going down yet, which may slow the rate at which food and drink price inflation will fall, and costs often remain stubbornly high and still some way above pre-pandemic levels.”
A Morrisons spokesperson said it had broadened its Savers range by more than 10% in recent months, and cut the prices of more than half of products.
A spokesperson for Tesco said: “We are committed to giving our customers consistent, reliable prices. Our Express stores do not have the shelf space to accommodate all the product ranges available in our larger stores, so we use our expert knowledge of local customers’ shopping habits to make sure the ranges in each store best meet local tastes and needs.”
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “In the last two years we have invested over £560m to keep our prices low.”
