Tesco has cut prices on 30 of its own-brand cupboard essentials, including pasta and cooking oil, in a move aimed at helping customers save money. The reductions, effective from today across larger stores and online, see own-brand pasta varieties such as penne and spaghetti reduced by 15p, while vegetable and sunflower oil have been cut by up to 15p. Prices may vary in smaller Express stores.
The price cuts follow a previous reduction on bread and butter last week. Tesco attributes the decreases to signs of deflation in the UK, with food inflation currently at 19.1%. Ashwin Prasad, Tesco Group's chief product officer, stated: 'As we see deflation coming through on key cupboard essentials such as pasta and cooking oil, we're pleased to pass on these savings to customers.'
Rival supermarket Aldi quickly followed suit, announcing its own price reductions shortly after Tesco. Aldi has slashed the price of oil by up to 15p and pasta by up to 4p, intensifying the price war among grocery retailers.
The announcements come as Which? released its latest inflation tracker, which analysed 26,000 food basics and found that some items have doubled in price over the past year. The price increases were observed across all major UK supermarkets, including Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose. Supermarket own-label budget items were 15% more expensive in April this year compared to previous months.
