A return to cheap supermarket prices is “unlikely”, the boss of Tesco has warned.
Chief executive Ken Murphy said there were “encouraging early signs” that inflation in the grocery market was easing.
That will be welcomed by millions of shoppers reeling from the fastest rise in food inflation for 45 years.
But Mr Murphy cautioned that, because of how much wages are going up and with energy prices still much higher than the past, it was hard to predict how much prices would fall.
He added: “It is unlikely prices will return to where they were.”
Prices of some items have begun to drop, he said, but often those where they surged before.
Tesco’s bread prices have fallen 12% in the past month, Mr Murphy explained, with pasta and broccoli down 16%.
“We believe we are past the peak in inflation,” he said.
But on other items - including some meat, sugar, potatoes and rice - the pressure on prices is still up.
According to the Office for National Statistics, average food and drink prices rocketed by more than 19% year-on-year in April.
All eyes will be on updated figures from the ONS for May next Wednesday.
It came as Tesco revealed that group sales jumped 8.2% to £14.8billion in the 13 weeks to May 27.
Sales in the UK and the Republic of Ireland were up 8.8% to just under £13.8billion.
There had been talk of the Government drawing up plans to encourage supermarkets to introduce a voluntary price cap on food staples to help with the cost of living crisis.
But reports in recent days suggest Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has dropped the idea.
Mr Murphy insisted the UK grocery market was fiercely competitive already.
“We haven’t had a recent discussion with government in terms of price caps,” he added.
Mr Murphy stressed its profit margins last year amounted to 3.8p in the pound, down from 4.4p in the pound the year before.
Despite the sizeable rise in sales, Tesco kept its profit guidance for this year unchanged.
