LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Sainsbury’s, Britain’s second largest supermarket group after Tesco, expects food inflation to continue to fall in 2026, its boss said on Friday.
Industry data published on Tuesday showed UK grocery inflation was 4.3% in the four weeks to December 28, easing from the 4.7% level recorded in the previous four week period.
“We’ve seen food inflation come down and when you think about the outlook for the year ahead we’d expect that to continue,” Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts told reporters after the group updated on Christmas trading.
He said commodity prices were likely to be more stable in 2026, while Sainsbury’s wasn’t facing the same hike in employer social security costs that it had in 2025.
“Whilst wages are still increasing, those are things that we planned for over a long period of time,” Roberts added.
From April, Britain’s main minimum wage rate jumps a further 4.1%.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)
