IT says much about the state of the grocery sector that the Scottish Retail Consortium was able to hail a 3.2 per cent year-on-year fall in the value of food sales north of the Border as an improvement.

The SRC was making a fair enough observation. The drop in October was not as bad as a 3.6 per cent year-on-year fall in food sales value in September. But neither the less-steep fall in food sales nor the continuing pretty grim shape of the UK economy, which is after all the main cause of the grocery sector’s woes, constitute any kind of justification for even the most optimistic to embark on celebratory feasting.

The SRC was not indicating there was any such justification. Rather, it made it clear it was well aware of the troubles of the food retailing sector.

These woes were underlined yet again this week when supermarket group Asda, owned by US giant Wal-Mart, published sales figures.

The tough trading conditions and fierce competitive pressures in the food retailing sector throughout the UK were evident in a 4.5 per cent year-on-year fall in Asda’s like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to September 30.

Asda chief executive Andy Clarke said: “There’s no doubt this represents another challenging quarter…The intensely competitive background remains throughout the food sector.”

Meanwhile, the latest supermarket share figures this week from researcher Kantar Worldpanel showed that the combined UK grocery market share of discount retailers Aldi and Lidl reached 10 per cent for the first time.

We have seen discounters come and go in food retailing in previous cycles, but the charge of Aldi and Lidl looks like something different. And we should not be surprised that they are enjoying great success at a time when many households are having to cut their food bills just to balance their budgets.

Lidl’s market share reached a fresh record high of 4.4 per cent. And Aldi held its share at 5.6 per cent.

Kantar said Tesco had recorded a 2.5 per cent year-on-year fall in sales in the 12 weeks to November 8, with Wm Morrison down by 1.7 per cent and Asda showing a 3.5 per cent decline over this period.

The supermarket bosses could be forgiven for a degree of exasperation as they contemplate how to achieve sales growth in the current environment.

Sainsbury was the only one of the big four supermarket chains to buck the miserable trend with a 1.5 per cent year-on-year rise in sales in the 12 weeks to November 8.

Figures published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics underlined the pressure on food retailers, which collectively experienced a 1.3 per cent month-on-month drop in sales volumes in October on a seasonally-adjusted basis. This tumble was a key factor in a 0.6 per cent month-on-month fall in overall UK retail sales volumes.

The SRC sales figures this week showed renewed weakness in the value of non-food sales in Scotland in October. Non-food sales tend to be the more discretionary element of consumer spending, and give a fair idea of how confident people are feeling about their financial situations.

The value of non-food sales in Scotland in October was down by 1.8 per cent on the same month of last year.

Overall, the value of Scottish retail sales last month was down by 2.4 per cent on October 2014.

David McCorquodale, head of accountancy firm and SRC survey sponsor KPMG’s UK retail sector practice, said: “Sluggish Scottish sales serve a sobering reminder of the frailty of the economic recovery when reflected in the discretionary spending of households.”

There is no doubt that the UK economic recovery, such as it is, is frail. UK growth slowed to 0.5 per cent in the third quarter, from 0.7 per cent in the preceding three months, and this is even before Chancellor George Osborne’s further £12 billion of planned cuts in annual welfare spending hit home.

A survey yesterday from the Confederation of British Industry provided yet more evidence of manufacturing sector weakness.

The CBI survey signals UK manufacturers’ export order books remain very weak, with the sector projecting a fall in output volumes in the coming three months.

Supermarkets have undoubtedly suffered from years of falling real incomes in the wake of the financial crisis and subsequent recession. And Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane last week cited signs that growth in real wages, which has only re-emerged in very recent times, had already begun to slow.

For the supermarkets, it is all about disposable household income. The fact that they have not reaped any noticeable benefit from lower petrol prices and domestic fuel costs underlines the extent to which household budgets remain under severe pressure.

When Mr Osborne delivers his Autumn Statement next week, he is almost certain to hammer home his determination to proceed with his planned £4.4bn of cuts in annual tax credits, in spite of his recent setback in the House of Lords on this front. It is also pretty inconceivable that he will relent on his broader welfare cuts.

These measures will reduce still further the disposable incomes of lower-income households that have to spend all their money to live. And that, undoubtedly, is further very bad news for the beleaguered supermarket sector.