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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