Tesco’s 1,000 price rises in just two weeks

TESCO has increased prices on more than 1,000 products in the past fortnight.

The supermarket chain raised the cost of goods by 11 per cent on average during the first two weeks of the month.

A five-pack of bananas went up 11 per cent from 90p to £1, while its own-brand farfalle, macaroni and linguine pastas have all risen 30 per cent from 50p a pack to 65p. Strawberry jam went up 23 per cent to 92p and an iceberg lettuce by 17 per cent to 60p. The highest rise was for Merchant Gourmet puy lentils, from £1.42 to £3.60 – a rise of 152 per cent, data by Brand View found. Industry sources said supermarket prices fluctuate, but that Tesco’s recent increases were notably high.

Tesco blamed cost pressures hitting the entire market, such as rising labour costs.

It added: ‘For the majority of products that increased in price over the last three weeks, we still beat or match the cheapest of the Big Four [Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons].’