A recent study by Which? has identified the supermarket products experiencing the highest price hikes. According to the research, fish prices surged by 9.7% year-on-year in May, with energy drinks following closely with a 5.9% increase. In contrast, butters, spreads, and chocolate saw a decrease in prices by 0.8%.
Overall, Which? discovered that the inflation rate for supermarket food and drink has started to stabilize. The annual inflation rate dropped to 3.1% in the three months leading up to May 2026, down from 4.1% in February. This is a significant decrease from the peak of 17% recorded in the three months ending April 2023. Monthly food inflation also decreased to 2.4% in May.
Waitrose registered the highest inflation rate at 3.8% annually in May, while Aldi had the lowest at 0.8%. Waitrose commented that they have invested over £20 million in reducing prices across their range while maintaining quality and high standards.
Which? compiled data from 20 popular food and drink categories across various supermarkets including Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose. The study showed that households purchasing own-label budget items faced a higher inflation rate of 4% compared to branded groceries at 2.2%.
Separate research by Worldpanel by Numerator revealed that UK grocery inflation eased to 3.1% for the four weeks ending May 17, 2026, down from 3.8% in April. Additionally, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicated a 3% increase in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices in the 12 months leading to April 2026, a decrease from 3.7% in the previous year.
Reena Sewraz, Retail Editor at Which?, emphasized that while food price inflation appears to be slowing down, consumers are still feeling the impact of continuous grocery cost increases. The study highlighted significant variations in inflation rates among supermarkets, ranging from 0.8% at Aldi to 3.8% at Waitrose in May.
Andrew Opie, Director of Food & Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, mentioned that retailers are striving to provide value to customers amid challenges such as higher energy and commodity costs due to global conflicts and government policies.
The data presented reflects the annual inflation rates for the month of May 2026.