THE price of our favourite supermarket products could rise even further, a leading expert has warned.

Karen Betts, the CEO of the Food and Drink Federation, also called on the Government to provide more “certainty” around energy support.

Speaking to GB News, Ms Betts said: “Retailers and food manufacturers are doing everything they can to contain the price inflation. And we know we have a responsibility to keep food affordable. You’re seeing across a range of food manufacturers, companies cutting back on investments.

“You’ll also see them cutting back on product lines, in some places and you’ll see them really driving their energy efficiency, you’ll see cutbacks in marketing and other internal budgets.

“But I think there is just a limit to what you can do at the end of the day. The companies in our food manufacturing sector can’t operate at a loss, they have to remain as viable businesses, they’re borrowing costs have gone up, for instance. And so they’re managing that as well. So I think everybody is doing everything that they can, but the inflation figures that you see show it is just not possible to protect consumers from all of the price rises that that manufacturers and retailers are experiencing.

She added: “Prices have gone up. broadly across the board, there are 49 categories of food and drink that the official statistics are based on. And 38 of those products have now gone up in double digit figures.

“So the price rises are broadly across the board. It is really hard, I think, for food and drink manufacturers to keep the cost price rises out of particular categories of food. I mean, what I would say is that there is more that we think that the Government could do.
“You know, clarity in economic policymaking is obviously really important. I think some of the political and economic stability or instability of the last few weeks has made operating for companies quite a lot harder indeed. And made it quite a lot harder for their employees as well who have mortgages and who are noticing, as you say, the rising cost of living. I think there’s more certainty that the government can give us around energy support, and indeed what will happen if there are disruptions to energy supply over the winter?
“I also think there is regulatory reform that the government could do that would help manufacturing companies that would help retailers take the cost out of some ordinary, everyday foodstuffs.”