Food inflation is continuing to bite consumers, as goods including butter, milk and eggs are seeing some of the highest cost hikes across shelves, the Kantar supermarket survey has found.

Grocery inflation stands at 9.5%, the highest it has been since Kantar first started tracking these costs in 2008.

“Everyday essentials such as butter, milk, flour, eggs and bread are seeing some of the biggest price rises,” said senior retail analyst with Kantar Emer Healy.

“It is no surprise that we are seeing Irish shoppers making lifestyle changes to deal with the extra pressures on their household budgets.”

Turning to own brand

Shoppers are turning in increasing numbers to own brand products to help cope with these budgetary pressures, with 3.1% less being spent on branded food goods over the past 12 weeks.

Sales of own-label goods are up 3.5%, as almost 47% of all Irish groceries are now own-label products.

Meanwhile, the largest five supermarket chains - Supervalu, Tesco, Dunnes, Lidl and Aldi – have increased their share of the market to over 90%, up on 2021’s figures.