Can you guess how much cheese has gone up in price?

Inflation may finally be falling but the increase in the price of food remains stubbornly high with common commodities like cheese up sharply since last year.

According to the latest information from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), inflation was 8.7% in April compared with 10.1% in March.

This was welcomed by the government, with Rishi Sunak making halving price rises one of his five pledges for his first year in office, but food inflation was at 19.3%, down only slightly from 19.6%.

After the figures were published on Wednesday Chancellor Jeremy Hunt admitted food prices are "still rising too fast."

One of the basic goods that has increased in price the most is cheese.

Can you guess how much cheese has gone up?

Try your luck using our interactive chart below.

The ONS's figures above use the Retail Price Index (RPI) to measure the price increase of cheese, rather than the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which the government uses to give the overall inflation figure.

The RPI usually gives a slightly higher overall inflation figure than CPI, it currently stands at 11.4%, compared to the CPI's 8.7%.

The chart above shows that as of April 2023 a kilogram of cheese costs 940p, a year ago it was 640p.

The price of cheese had been falling in recent years hitting a low in February 2020 at 620p.

Its previous peak was in November 2013 at 804p, which was overtaken in December 2022 when the price sat at 823p.

Overall between April 2022 and April 2023, the price of cheese rose by 42%.

Why is cheese going up in price?

All dairy products have been hit hard by the cost of living crisis, with milk up 39% in the past year.

Much of the cheese sold in the UK is produced in the UK, and British dairy farmers have been hit by an onslaught of price rises in recent years.

The ongoing bovine tuberculosis pandemic has led to many dairy farmers being forced to cull many of their cows and restrictions placed on when they can buy more.

The war in Ukraine has also led to sharp rises in the price of oils which are often used in cheese and butter.

The price of cow feed has also been impacted by the war in Ukraine.

On top of this, the dairy market is also being hit by all of the other costs impacting business with the price of energy, packaging and transport soaring.