An economic indicator report has revealed that online pet food prices have risen by the highest percentage for the second week in a row.
The report by the Office for National Statistics has been produced since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March. It looks at a basket of high demand products (HDP) to see how prices fluctuate during the course of the covid-19 lockdown.
Overall, online prices for items in the HDP basket increased by 1.8% over the period from week 3 (March 30 – April 5) to week 4 (April 6- April 12).
However, pet food once again recorded the largest percentage increase at 8.4%, with rice the second largest at 5.8%.
This compares with an increase of 6.2% for online pet food in the previous weekly report – this was also the largest overall increase – and 3.1% in the first report.
Other items in the HDP basket include household goods such as toilet roll, nappies and paracetamol.
The report said that pet food was a high driver of the overall basket price increase, but warned that the size of the sample meant that sometimes single retailers can contribute to substantial movements at the item level.
The Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA) has however refuted some of the methodology around the report, pointing out that it is a little ‘opaque’.
Nicole Paley of the PFMA said previously: “The supermarkets have been clear that they have been reducing the number of promotions on offer in store (and therefore online) to try to suppress demand and ease the workload on staff so that they can prioritise store hours to restocking vital categories.”
She added that the PFMA’s own analyst had taken a look at price data and found that the simple act of removing such promotions could account for the increase noted in the ONS report.
She said: “We are not suggesting there is not profiteering in the industry as a whole but we very much doubt that it is taking place in the major retailers, it could be happening via third party online sellers but it is hard to read too much in to this at this point and some further exploration would be needed.”
