Where inflation accelerated in January – and where it eased

The jump last month in the overall rate of inflation to 3% was driven by changes in plane and bus fares, along with price rises across a range of everyday items including coffee, chocolate and fruit juice.

The average cost of air travel fell by only 2.0% year-on-year, a much smaller drop than is typical for January, and followed a large fall of 26.0% in December.

Bus and coach fares leapt by 8.7% year-on-year, after rising by just 0.7% in December, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Inflation accelerated for many household groceries, including coffee, which was up 11.6% in price in January compared with 0.2% in December; butter (up 18.3% in January, up 10.2% in December); chocolate (14.1% in January, 11.7% in December); fruit and vegetable juices (6.2% in January, 2.5% in December); and cheese (2.5% in January, 0.9% in December).

Some products swung from negative to positive inflation.

The average price of pizza and quiche fell 4.6% year-on-year in December, then rose 0.7% in January; frozen vegetables were down 0.2% in December but jumped 2.0% last month; and carpets and rugs saw a drop of 2.9% followed by a rise of 0.8%.

Other items experienced a slowing down in price cuts.

Fridges and freezers were down 4.1% year-on-year in December, but this slowed to a drop of just 0.6% in January.

Washing machines and dishwashers fell by only 0.4%, after a decrease of 2.8% in December.

Both petrol and diesel recorded a negative rate of inflation last month, but by a smaller margin than in December, reflecting a rise in the cost of filling up at the pumps.

The average price of petrol in January was down 2.0% year-on-year, compared with a fall of 4.6% the previous month, while diesel fell 2.8% compared with a previous drop of 5.8%.

Not everything jumped in cost last month, however.

Prices fell faster for pasta and couscous in January (down 5.9% year-on-year) than December (down 2.4%), as they did for sugar (down 2.1% in January, down 0.6% in December), men’s shoes (down 2.0% in January, down 1.2% in December) and rice (down 3.0% in January, down 2.7% in December).

Annual inflation slowed for olive oil, up 16.6% compared with 22.3% in December; for potatoes, up 3.0% compared with 6.5%; and children’s shoes, up 1.4% compared with 4.6%.

Below are some examples of how the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate has eased or accelerated.

Two figures are listed for each item: the average rise in price in the 12 months to December, followed by the average rise in price in the 12 months to January.