Supermarket price war kicks off as Morrisons cuts 800 items

MORRISONS has kicked off a supermarket price war by slashing the cost of 800 items to entice shoppers suffering from the post-Christmas pinch.

A pack of two avocados has been cut from £1.80 to £1.47 while a 2.5kg bag of King Edward potatoes will drop from £2 to £1.67. A pack of 12 beef meatballs will cost £1.77, down from £2.

Marketing and customer director Andy Atkinson said: ‘These cuts will help families who are on a tighter budget and will continue to make Morrisons more competitive.’

The supermarket had already reduced the cost of around 700 items last year, meaning some 1,500 are on sale at an average price reduction of 19 per cent.

It also said it has also simplified the price of more than 5,000 items by rounding them to the nearest pound. It’s the first of the big supermarkets to slash prices this year,

‘Strong competition’

although others are gearing up to follow suit. Sainsbury’s has spent more than £150million to make goods cheaper over the past two years.

But experts warn that the Brexit vote could push up the cost of goods in supermarkets because of the fall in the pound.

Sterling has fallen more than 17 per cent against the dollar and 10 per cent against the euro since the vote to leave the EU in June – making imports more expensive.

But while the cost of some goods has risen, supermarkets have kept prices down as they fight to attract customers.

The big four – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda – are trying to win customers back from discounters Aldi and Lidl.

The Bank of England says the supermarket price war has kept a lid on the cost of food, adding: ‘Strong competition has held back price increases.’ Although inflation has risen to a two-year high of 1.2 per cent, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show food prices have fallen 1.8 per cent in the past 12 months.