Grocery prices in Hong Kong supermarkets rose 2.1 percent between July 2021 and June last year, the Consumer Council said on Monday.

Some canned food items rose more than 30 percent, it said, as people stocked up fearing there would be pandemic lockdowns.

The council said it looked at the prices of 260 items and compared them to what they had been the year before, finding 70 percent of products became more expensive.

The average 2.1 percent increase was the highest since 2013, it said.

“Whether this trend will go down...if we look at the historical trend, I'm not that optimistic,” said Nora Tam, chairwoman of the council's research and testing committee.

She urged supermarkets to do their best to keep grocery prices down, and encouraged people to shop around.

“All consumers should be a smart consumer. They should actually make good use of the Online Price Watch from the council to compare the price across different supermarkets and retailers, and also visit different stores to check the price in person."