The British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported on Wednesday that prices in shops rose by an annual 0.9 percent y-o-y in March compared with +0.7 percent y-o-y in February, recording the highest inflation rate since March 2013.

According to the BRC, the March increase was driven by an acceleration in food prices, which climbed 2.5 percent y-o-y last month compared with a rate of 1.6 percent y-o-y in the previous month.

At the same time, non-food prices unchanged y-o-y, slowing from a 0.2 percent y-o-y advance in February.

The BRC noted that "Global commodity prices and weather events pushed food prices up. Rises in global cereal prices pushed Bread & Cereal prices up. Last year’s bad weather meant that a number of UK crops, such as onions, potatoes, and cabbage, saw much lower yields, and, as a result, these products are seeing now significant price increases."