British shop prices fall to lowest level since 2006

British overall shop prices in June fell at the fastest annual pace since 2006, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said on Wednesday.
Shop prices reported deflation for the fourteenth consecutive month, accelerating to 1.8 percent in June, the BRC said.
It is the biggest annual fall since the BRC's survey began in December 2006. Food inflation also fell to 0.6 percent in June, marking the lowest level since records began.
Non-food items showed accelerated deflation of 3.4 percent in June from 2.8 percent in May -- also the lowest-ever level recorded.
"Fierce competition among grocers has driven food price inflation to record-low levels. With some grocers having announced plans to keep prices down, consumers stand to benefit for a while to come," said BRC director-general Helen Dickinson.
Britain's consumer prices index fell to a four-and-a-half year low of 1.5 percent in May, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.
Capital Economics, a London-based economic research company, expected that inflation would ease to as low as 1 percent by the end of this year.