Shoppers have seen food prices rise at the checkout by an estimated 4.6% in the last 12 months, according to latest research from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Anthony Dawson, statistician in the CSO prices division, said: "The annual change in food and non-alcoholic beverages costs reflects a rise in prices across a range of products, such as beef, veal and milk".

According to the CSO consumer prices in general rose by 2.7% over the 12 months to October 2025.

The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the CSO highlights that while transport costs rose by 1.9% in the 12 months to October 2025 and energy prices by 2.7% in the same time frame, consumers saw the biggest increase in the price of their weekly food shop.

Food prices

According to the CSO there is no sign of this trend slowing down - food prices are also estimated to have increased by 0.3% in the last month.

Earlier this year the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) said its analysis showed that while food prices had increased significantly in recent years there was "no evidence that competition is not working in the Irish grocery retail sector".

The CCPC published its "updated high-level analysis of the Irish grocery retail sector" in August.

It found that "food price increases have generally remained below the European average, which coincides with increasing competition in Ireland".

The CCPC stated that its analysis also highlighted that, while grocery prices have increased significantly since 2021, "they have done so at a slower pace than some of the key input costs such as agricultural prices". 

"This suggests that competition in the grocery market has helped limit the impact of increased agricultural prices on Irish consumers," the CCPC added.  

However earlier this month separate market analysis showed that grocery price inflation had hit its highest level in Ireland since December 2023.

According to Worldpanel by Numerator grocery price inflation in October stood at 6.5%.