Bank of England's Bailey: Food firms rebuilding profit margins could be adding to inflation

Inflation 'has turned the corner'

Food cost inflation may partly be led by producers setting higher prices to “rebuild profit margins”, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has told MPs.

Quizzed by Labour's Angela Eagle about so-called "greedflation" as grocery prices stand at a 45-year high, Bailey said the bank's intelligence from across industries could point to profit-making among producers, rather than just the feed through of higher raw material costs to consumers. He told MPs: "We pick up information, particularly by our agents, and certainly we have heard the rebuilding story.  "It is a story about rebuilding [profit] margins that were squeezed, particularly last year and the early parts of [2023]." Chancellor to raise high price concerns with food manufact...