Flour Leads ShelfSight’s Latest Grocery Price Rise as Overall Prices Climb 1.0%

Flour Leads ShelfSight’s Latest Grocery Price Rise as Overall Prices Climb 1.0%

ShelfSight’s latest Price Pulse shows tracked supermarket prices rising 1.0% between 27 August and 25 September 2026.

The strongest category movement in the latest snapshot came from flour, which rose 1.2% across 413 matched products.

Rice followed closely at +1.1%, while milk rose 1.0% and cooking oil increased 0.5%.

The latest ShelfSight Price Pulse

For the period 27 Aug–25 Sept, ShelfSight recorded:

• Overall Price Pulse: +1.0%
• Flour: +1.2% across 413 products
• Rice: +1.1% across 341 products
• Milk: +1.0% across 744 products
• Cooking Oil: +0.5% across 321 products

The Price Pulse is based on 1,901 matched products with comparable prices in the opening and latest seven-day periods.

Flour moves ahead

Flour’s 1.2% increase puts it slightly above the overall tracked market.

That does not mean every flour product became more expensive, or that every retailer moved in the same direction.

Instead, it shows that among the matched flour products included in ShelfSight’s comparison, the category as a whole moved higher over the period.

For households that buy flour frequently, even modest category-level increases can add up when combined with movements elsewhere in the basket.

Rice and milk are close behind

Rice increased 1.1%, while milk rose 1.0%.

That puts both categories close to the overall ShelfSight Price Pulse.

The significance is not any single product movement, but the fact that several staple categories are rising at the same time.

A few shillings on flour, another small increase on rice, and a change in milk prices can collectively affect the cost of a household basket.

Cooking oil remains more moderate

Cooking oil increased by 0.5%, making it the slowest-moving of the four highlighted categories.

That is still an upward movement, but it is roughly half the overall Price Pulse increase.

Individual products can move much more sharply

Category averages smooth out large movements at individual-product level.

In the latest public snapshot, ShelfSight recorded Pietro Extra Virgin Olive Oil 500ml as the largest individual increase at +59.2%.

The largest reduction was Terra Delyssa Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1L, down 25.0%.

Those movements are much larger than the category averages, which is why ShelfSight separates individual product changes from broader category trends.

What this means for shoppers

A rising category does not mean every retailer has the same price.

The same flour, rice, milk or cooking-oil product can still be listed differently across supermarkets.

That makes retailer comparison useful even when the broader category is moving upward.

Checking the same product across retailers can help shoppers see whether a category-wide increase is actually reflected in the particular products they buy.

The ShelfSight takeaway

Tracked grocery prices rose 1.0% between 27 August and 25 September.

Within that movement:

• Flour led at +1.2%
• Rice rose +1.1%
• Milk increased +1.0%
• Cooking oil moved +0.5%

The latest ShelfSight signal is therefore not a dramatic market-wide jump, but a steady upward movement across several everyday categories — with flour currently leading the group.

Monitor. Compare. Decide.

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*ShelfSight Price Pulse measures short-term movement among tracked supermarket products. It is not Kenya’s official inflation rate. Product availability, promotions, assortment and retailer pricing can change over time.*