UK food inflation to be 'low single digits' through 2024, says Sainsbury's boss

LONDON (Reuters) - Sainsbury's, Britain's second largest supermarket group, expects food inflation to remain in "low single digits" in 2024, its boss said on Thursday.

British food inflation leapt to a 45-year high of 19.2% in March 2023 on surging energy costs, labour shortages and disruption to Ukrainian exports, but it fell to 4% in March, according to official data.

UK grocery inflation fell further to 3.2% this month, according to industry data published on Tuesday.

"We see (food) inflation continuing to stabilise," Sainsbury's CEO Simon Roberts told reporters after the group published full year results.

"(Food) inflation has come down and we'd expect it to stay in low single digits" for the year ahead, he said.

Roberts said he did not expect anticipated poor UK harvests of crops such as potatoes and onions due to widespread flooding earlier this year to have a significant impact on food inflation.

He said he was confident Sainsbury's could "protect availability without causing any impact for customers," noting that commodity costs "in the main" were coming down.

Roberts said there were, however, some inflationary impacts still around, highlighting higher wages in the supply chain.

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by William James)