At odds with predictions from some farmers questioned by the BBC that the bad weather could hike up prices because harvests have been delayed, Price contended that costs – such as those for vegetables – are already falling.
“They [consumers] are going to start seeing prices levelling off in the next 12 months as either the retailers are absorbing some of that cost or the food costs in the supply chain start coming down,” he remarked.
He claimed that Waitrose is continuing to absorb the price of food inflation so that these extras are not passed on to customers.
And Price argued that there is a “misconception” about the supermarket and the prices it can offer to the general public.
His company has cheaper entry prices on five out of 25 product categories than the discount retailer Aldi, he suggested.
Waitrose today admitted that operating profit fell by 8.4% in the first six months of the year.
