Food processing giant Premier Foods has come clean about plans to push up prices as a result of the Brexit vote.

Ahead of the referendum in June last year, experts and analysts warned that Brexit would be likely to cause food prices to rise in the UK, as the UK imports about 40% of food consumed here. In a paper published in the wake of the Brexit vote last September, Oxford University economist Dieter Helm put forward a case for an overhaul of farm policy, and particularly the subsidy regime, arguing that although farm unions in Britain attempt to improve their lobbying clout by citing the combined figure of the food and farming industries, farming alone accounts for just 0.7% of GDP (despite being the most subsidised sector in the UK besides ‘defence’). Helm argued that, though food and drink is the UK’s largest remaining manufacturing sector by workforce, the wider industry “does not greatly depend on home production,” suggesting again that Brexit is likely to have an impact here in the absence of a coherent domestic food policy.

On Tuesday, Premier confirmed that it is considering increasing the price of its brand ranges (the company owns Mr Kipling cakes, Bisto gravy, Hovis and Ambrosia dairy products) to offset the effects of higher costs and the weaker pound. The pound has lost almost a fifth of its value against the dollar, and fallen 12% against the Euro since last year’s vote to leave the EU. A spokesperson for Premier said any pricing changes would differ between different product categories, and added that the possible increases are “Currently under discussion with our individual retail customers.”

The company is understood to be in talks with the at least three of the UK’s ‘Big Four’ supermarkets. The spokesperson added, "On average we are considering rises around the mid-single digit mark.”

Premier may also scale back on promotional offers, in which consumers get ‘extra free’ items, or larger pack sizes in a bid to make savings.

Posting its half-year results in November, Premier highlighted the effects of sterling’s dive and rising input costs.  

Last year, Tesco stood in the way of Unilever’s bid to increase prices (owner of brands including Marmite and PG Tips), a move that was also linked to Brexit.