SYDNEY, March 7 (Reuters) - Australia's top grocer said
on Tuesday that while the food inflation rate was beginning to
decline, prices were taking longer than expected to retreat off
pandemic highs.
Woolworths Group Ltd Chief Executive Officer Brad
Banducci said while price rises were slowing for certain
products, with vegetables now "deflationary", prices elsewhere
were falling more slowly or not at all.
"We've seen food inflation in aggregate come down but much
more slowly than anyone anticipated," Banducci said at the
Australian Financial Review business summit on Tuesday in
Sydney.
Food inflation rose 9.2% in the December quarter versus a
year ago, the highest reading since 2006. Vegetable prices rose
5.7% over the same period, down from a 17.2% reading in the
September quarter.
Stubborn inflation has posed a challenge for the Reserve
Bank of Australia, which on Tuesday lifted its cash rate to its
highest level in more than a decade. However the central bank
suggested it might be nearly done tightening as consumer
spending was slowing.
Falling freight rates would help lower prices, said
Banducci, adding that Woolworths had just negotiated new freight
agreements.
(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Sonali Paul)
@lewjackk))
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