The increasing cost of sugar coupled with high manufacturing costs contributed to price rises for chocolate, sweets and fizzy drinks, while fruit and vegetable prices also rose as poor harvests in Europe and North Africa limited availability, retailers said.
Shop prices are now 8.9 per cent higher than they were a year ago, up from February's 8.4 per cent increase, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)-NielsenIQ index.
Overall food inflation accelerated to 15 per cent, up from 14.5 per cent last month, while the price of fresh food is now 17 per cent higher than last March - the highest on record.
Inflation on items other than food also reached a new record of 5.9 per cent, up from 5.3 per cent in February.
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