Sainsbury’s, Britain’s second largest supermarket group, expects more food inflation to come through as a result of the Middle East conflict, its boss said, Reuters reports.

“There is pressure in the system for sure and there will be some inflation to come through,” CEO Simon Roberts told reporters after Sainsbury’s updated on first quarter trading.

“We always said it would take until the mid-summer to see the extent to which … that will feed through, particularly in fresh food,” he said.

But Roberts said he was encouraged that so far this year food inflation had not risen “as significantly as some had expected” and noted that Sainsbury’s own inflation in its first quarter was lower than that in the previous quarter.