Mr Fitzner told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that food prices were still “running quite high at 4.5%” but added “the fact that we have seen that steady increase dip a little is encouraging.”
“It is just one month’s numbers so we will have to see what transpires in future months – but nonetheless a small glimmer of hope there,” he said.
Paul Dales, chief UK economist for Capital Economics, said while food price inflation could rise further, “this will probably be the peak in inflation”.
James Walton, chief economist at the Institute of Grocery Distribution said the declining rate of food and drink inflation “aligns with our predictions that food inflation will start to moderate, and we may have seen the peak.”
“Whilst this is good news, prices for shoppers are still going up year on year, just more slowly,” he said.
Mr Walton noted that items such as red meat, coffee and chocolate are still seeing strong price increases and linked this to issues with production, such as bad weather.
Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis, said: “Staples like vegetables, milk, cheese and bread were all pared back a touch, though such tiny movements won’t make a huge difference to the overall bill when people reach supermarket tills.”
Dr Kris Hamer, director of insight at the British Retail Consortium, said the figures were “unlikely to raise consumer spirits as the cost of a weekly grocery shop was still “significantly higher than last year”.
“Nonetheless, consumers will have been happy to see the price of key staples such as rice, bread and cereal fall on the month,” he said.
