The latest Lynx Purchasing market forecast has shown a slight decrease in the rate at which prices are rising, and the ‘Lynxometer’, the basket of food and drink regularly bought by the company’s customers increased by 6% over the 12 months to June 2017, down 9% in March.
Rachel Dobson, Lynx managing director, said: “Whoever is in government after June 8, they will be getting down to almost two years of detailed Brexit negotiations.
“While it’s inevitable that there will be political debate about the outcome on both sides of the channel, we can only hope that the markets continue to take a more pragmatic view.”
The market forecast shows that the price of meat is up 5% year on year, due to the higher global demand and popularity of gourmet burger and steakhouse menus.
Dairy is up 9% year on year, with availability of cream being low, and fruit and vegetable prices are up 6% year on year.
Dobson said: “The long term impact of Brexit on the hospitality sector will be the decided by the nature of the deal in a range of areas, including farming and fisheries policy, import tariffs, and the availability of migrant labour.
“Whatever is decided, it will be several years before anything changes and the operators will have plenty of notice to plan. What’s needed is market stability in the interim.”