The price of bread and cereals could rise by up to 30% in the event of a hard Brexit, a report released by the Economic and Social Institute reveals. The cost of milk, cheese and eggs to the consumer could also rise by 46%.

The study, published on Wednesday, takes into account the cost of tariffs and increasing cost of trade due to a potential hard Brexit.

“As Ireland imports a considerable amount of food products from the UK, a hard Brexit could have an immediate impact on the cost of living,” one of the report’s authors, Martina Lawless said. “Unfortunately, we find that this impact would likely fall disproportionately on lower-income households.”

A hard Brexit would increase the cost of living for all households in Ireland by 2% to 3.1%, representing an annual increase of between €892 and €1,360 per household. The percentage increase faced by the poorest households would be 70 per cent more than the percentage increase faced by the wealthiest households.

The study, commissioned by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, does not take into account consumers choosing to switch products or changes to expenditure patterns in response to cost increases. Therefore the study likely reflects the maximum increase in the cost of living.

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Hard Brexit to cause dramatic rise in cost of food

Key consumer goods could see a dramatic rise in price in a hard Brexit scenario, a new report by the ESRI reveals.