Food & Drink sector performance – July 2023

Food and drink sales continued to grow in July, although the rate of growth was the lowest since January. Sales growth was driven by inflation as volumes remained in negative territory, in part due to the unseasonably wet weather, especially compared to last July's heatwave.

Although IGD’s Shopper Confidence Index increased for the fourth month running, confidence remains low. Shoppers are feeling less pessimistic about their personal finances, but they aren’t yet feeling optimistic; fewer people are experiencing rising energy bills (51% compared to 68% in Jul’22) and fewer shoppers expect to be financially worse off in the year ahead (37% compared to 50% in Jul ’22). Furthermore, fewer shoppers are concerned about food price rises with 68% expecting them to get more expensive in the next 12 months compared to 89% last July.

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