October shop prices were 1.1 per cent higher than last year – the highest monthly rise so far this year, according to the BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index.

The increase is a result of continued inflationary cost pressures in food filtering through to overall prices, which showed a year-on-year rise of 3.7 per cent, up from 2.7 per cent in September.

However, non-food prices continued to fall, with the majority of deflation coming from the clothing, footwear and electricals sector.

Between September and October, shop prices rose 0.5 per cent, which was slightly higher than the month-on-month rise of 0.2 per cent in August.

BRC director general Kevin Hawkins said: “Although intense price competition within non-food is keeping overall inflation low, it continues to be outweighed by food inflation. Food prices are being driven by global factors outside the control of the grocery industry, but supermarkets are fighting hard to reduce the impact on consumers – especially given all the other pressures on household incomes.”