Shoppers spend at tills as grocery prices fall sharply

Irish grocery prices fell steeply helping to encourage shoppers to spend €2.34bn at the tills over recent months, according to a leading market researcher.

Kantar Worldpanel Ireland said the price of its basket of 30,000 standard grocery items in the 12 weeks to mid-July dropped 0.5% from the same period last year.

The 0.5% deflation compares with an inflation rate of 2.6% a year ago, the research firm said. Falling prices helped boost spending in the period to €2.34bn, an increase of €45m in the year.