UK Fresh Food Prices Increase

The consumer prices index (CPI), the Government's preferred measure of inflation, fell from 4.5 per cent in October to 4.1 per cent in November, a smaller drop that expected by City analysts.

The fall was driven by a sharp drop in petrol prices, which were 8 per cent lower in November than the previous month, according to the official figures released by the Office for National Statistics.

But the decline in the latest CPI figure was not as large as expected due to the continued high cost of food. The annual rate of food inflation rose from 10.1 per cent to 10.8 per cent.

The biggest increase was in the price of fruit, which is largely imported from abroad and is most likely due to the collapse in sterling, which makes it more expensive to import goods from overseas.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European Economist at Global Insight, said: "Sterling is having an impact as most of our fruits are imported. This is not something that is going to disappear."