UK grocery inflation edges higher to 4.3%, says Worldpanel

March 3, 2026 3:16 AM EST

A shopper looks amongst a partially empty fruit and vegetable display in an aisle at a Sainsbury's supermarket, in London, Britain, February 26, 2023. REUTERS/Toby Melville

LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - UK ‌grocery inflation edged ​up ​to 4.3% in the four weeks to February 22, dealing a new blow to consumers after it eased ‌in January, data from market researcher Worldpanel by Numerator showed ⁠on Tuesday.

Grocery inflation had hit a nine-month low of 4.0% in its previous ‌report.

The figure from Worldpanel provides ‌an early indication of pricing pressures ahead of official UK inflation data on March 25.

MEAT, SKIN CARE AND CHOCOLATE PRICES RISING ​FASTEST

It said prices are rising fastest in markets such as fresh unprocessed meat, skin care and chocolate confectionery and falling fastest ⁠in chilled butter and spreads, household paper and sugar confectionery.

The Bank of England is watching ​food prices closely as it believes they play a key role in shaping the public's overall inflation expectations. ​Britain's headline inflation rate eased to 3% ‌in January.

Separate data on Tuesday from the British Retail Consortium showed annual shop price inflation slowed to ⁠1.1% in February, with food inflation easing to 3.5%.

Worldpanel said that over the 12 weeks to February 22 industry leader Tesco's sales rose 4.5% year-on-year ⁠and its market share grew 20 basis points to 28.7%. Number two Sainsbury's ​sales increased 5.2%, taking its share to 16.1%.

Discounter Lidl GB remained the fastest growing bricks-and-mortar retailer, with sales up 10.0%, while online supermarket Ocado remained the ‌fastest growing overall, with sales up 15.1%.

Number three player Asda continued to struggle - its sales fell 2.6%, ‌giving it a market share of 11.5%, down 80 basis points ⁠on the year.

UK supermarkets' market ‌share and sales growth (%)

% ​change in

Market share Market sales

12 weeks to share 12 (year-on-ye

Feb 22 2026 weeks to ar)

Feb 23

2025

Tesco 28.5 28.3 4.5

Sainsbury's 16.1 15.8 5.2

Asda 11.5 12.3 -2.6

Aldi 10.1 10.2 3.1

Morrisons 8.4 8.5 2.3

Lidl 7.8 7.3 10.0

Co-operative 5.0 5.3 -1.6

Waitrose 4.8 4.7 5.6

Iceland 2.3 2.3 2.7

Ocado 2.1 1.9 15.1

Source: Worldpanel by Numerator

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by ‌Sarah Young)



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