Mr. Fred Evansasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by how much retail food prices have increased during the past year.
§ Mr. Cledwyn HughesBetween June, 1967 and June, 1968 (the latest month for which figures are available) the retail food price index rose by 1.9 per cent. This is the smallest increase for some years past.
The level of retail food prices has been helped by the recent very low prices for new potatoes; on the other hand in this period there were the effects of devaluation, of Purchase Tax increases in the Budget, and higher meat prices following the disruption of supplies due to the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic. The fact that the increase in prices has been so small indicates that the overwhelming majority of food manufacturers and distributors are co-operating with the Government in absorbing other cost increases as much as possible, and in trying to keep unavoidable price increases to a minimum.