The price of two litres of full fat milk increased by 48 cent while the price of a pound of butter increased by 69 cent last month, when compared with corresponding prices for February 2022, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The latest Consumer Price Index, published by the CSO, today (Thursday, March 15) shows that prices for consumer goods and services last month increased by an average 8.5% compared to February 2022.
Anthony Dawson, statistician with the CSO, said: “The most significant increases in the year were seen in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels which was up 26.0% and food and non-alcoholic beverages, which rose by 13.1%.
“Prices have been rising on an annual basis since April 2021, with annual inflation of 5.0% or more recorded in each month since October 2021.”
According to the statistics office there was a significant price increase between February 2022 and February 2023 in a range of products including:
- Sugar which increased by 30.8%;
- Frozen fish which increased by 26.9%;
- Fresh whole milk which increased by 26.8%;
- Eggs which increased by 22.9%;
- Butter which increased by 22.2%.
The latest CSO figures also suggest that there is no sign of a dampening in consumer prices with yet another 1.6% increase recorded between January and February of this year.
The national average price for some household staples all increased during the month of February.
Among the most significant increases was the price of dairy products including milk, cheese and butter.
According to figures from the analytics company, Kantar Ireland, grocery inflation hit a new record high of 16.4% in February.
It highlighted that Irish consumers approach to the increased cost of living was to shop little and often.
According to Emer Healy, senior retail analyst with Kantar, grocery price inflation in February 2022 was at 2.4%, she said a 14% increase within a 12 month period was “significant”.