High sugar costs are pushing up the price of sweets and chocolate, according to the British Retail Consortium, keeping food inflation stubbornly high.

Shoppers face food prices which are 3.2pc above their level in May last year, the industry group said. While inflation for fresh food has slowed to 2pc, the cost of non-refrigerated products is still up by 4.8pc on the year.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said that global markets were still hammering British shoppers.

She said: “Ambient food inflation remained stickier, especially for sugary products which continued to feel the effects of high global sugar prices.”

Sugar prices in global markets have fallen back in recent months, according to data from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation. However, costs remain around 15pc above their level at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Non-food items in the shops are now 0.8pc cheaper than a year ago, the BRC said.

Ms Dickinson said: “Retailers cut furniture prices in an attempt to revive subdued consumer demand for big-ticket items, and football fans have been able to grab some bargains on TVs and other audio-visual equipment ahead of this summer’s Euros.”

The overall fall in shop price inflation to 0.6pc - its lowest level since November 2021 - supports the belief that the cost of living crisis is now coming to an end.

Economists expect the Bank of England to be able to cut interest rates later this year from their current 16-year high of 5.25pc as a result. That will mark the first reduction in borrowing costs since the Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Andrew Bailey, began raising the base rate from 0.1pc in December 2021, in its effort to tackle rising prices.

But retailers have so far struggled to turn reduced inflation into sales.

Official figures on Friday showed that retail sales fell by 2.3pc between April and May, as wet weather kept shoppers at home instead of on the high street.

Even online sales fell, suggesting that households were keen to keep a tight grip on their purses instead of simply transferring their in-store shopping budgets to internet retailers.

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