Price of milk and sunflower oil starting to fall

The prices of food staples such as oil and milk are finally “edging down”, even though shopping bills remain high, new data suggests.

Research firm Kantar said shoppers paid on average £1.50 for four pints of milk in July, down from £1.69 in March.The average cost of a litre of sunflower oil, meanwhile, is now £2.19, which is 22p less than in the spring.

It comes as grocery inflation – the rate at which overall food prices rise – remains high but is starting to ease.

Prices increased by 12.7% on an annual basis in the four weeks to 6 August, according to Kantar, which tracks the spending habits of 36,000 UK households.