Price of alcohol shoots up in January as overall prices keep surging

Alcohol prices shot up 17pc in January when compared with the same month last year.

This is the largest monthly increase in prices among the different categories recorded by the Central Statistics Office.

The cost of a slab of beer, cider and stout doubled to €40 due to the new minimum pricing unit regulations.

And separately to the minimum unit pricing rules, the price of a pint of stout in a pub is up 6c.

The latest inflation figures from the CSO show the rate that overall prices are rising fell back slightly last month, but the modest easing of inflationary pressures is set to offer little comfort to households that are being hit hard by multiple price hikes.

The inflation rate was 5pc in January, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This is down from a rate of 5.5pc in December.

Statisticians said the national average price of a pint of stout in January at €4.94, up 6.1c on average from December 2020.

A pint of lager is now €5.31, up 4.9c.

Brewer Heineken is the latest to signal price rises, saying it fears drinkers will cut back due to worries about rising prices.

Surges in the cost of domestic energy and petrol and diesel are set to add around €1,400 to average household bills this year. Other costs are also rising strongly.

The CSO has provided a break-down on individual prices of standard items bought by households for the first time.

It said that over the past year diesel and petrol costs were up by 42.3c a litre, and 40.7c a litre.

CSO statistician Colin Cotter said the national average price for an 800g white sliced pan was up 10c in the year.

Bread prices have been rising due to the higher costs of grain and the impact of Brexit.

The same-sized brown sliced pan is up 13.2c in the year.

Butter per pound increased by 12c in the year, while the average price for 80 tea bags increased by 5.2c.

On the plus said, clothing and footwear prices fell by 8pc in the month.

Mr Cotter said: “The latest publication for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows that prices for consumer goods and services in January 2022 increased by 5.0pc on average compared to January 2021.

“Prices have been rising on an annual basis since April 2021, with annual inflation of 5pc or more each month since October.”

Transport, housing and electricity and gas costs were all up in January.

The annual change in transport costs reflects a rise in the cost of diesel by 32pc, petrol by 29.5pc and airfares by 26.7pc, compared to January 2021.

Electricity costs are up 22.4pc, gas up 27.7pc and home-heating oil by 50.1pc in the year.

However, consumer prices in January decreased by 0.4pc in the month.

This is the first monthly decrease following 14 months of rising prices, which was the longest consecutive sequence of month-on-month inflation since the monthly consumer price index series began in 1997.

Last week the European Commission and the Central Bank of Ireland both expect price rises to stay close to 5pc over the year.

This month the European Commission predicted that Irish prices are to rise by close to 5pc this year, well above the EU average.

The EU executive said Irish price rises will average 4.6pc in 2022 before falling back to 2.5pc next year.

And the vast majority of people are worried about the rising cost of living, according to the latest Deloitte State of the Consumer Tracker.

The sustained rise in prices has left one in four concerned about making upcoming payments.

Overall consumer spending is up for the fourth month in a row, by €31 to an average spend of €2,608 per month as inflation means people have to shell out more money for goods and services.

Some 80pc are concerned about rising prices.