Ireland's supermarket bosses warn of 'perfect storm' brewing for consumers

Musgrave, owner of SuperValu and Centra, has started to see customers shop around for value and swap branded goods for cheaper own-brand versions

'You could have a situation where Covid savings are gone, summer holidays are over and they may have a bill to pay for that'

Grocery group Musgrave said consumers could soon run out of savings built up when they stayed at home during the pandemic and face a "perfect storm" of surging energy bills and accelerating inflation driving up living costs.

Musgrave, Ireland's largest wholesale grocery distributor and owner of two of the biggest grocery chains, SuperValu and Centra, has started to see customers shop around for value and swap branded goods for cheaper own-brand versions in the last six to eight weeks, Noel Keeley told Reuters.