Tesco has followed Sainsbury's in cutting the prices of its own-brand bread and butter. The UK's biggest supermarket has dropped the cost of its most popular loaf, Tesco Toastie white bread, from 85p to 75p.
It has also cut 10p from the price of its own-brand white, wholemeal medium and wholemeal thick 800g bread, taking them to 75p. The price of Tesco's own-brand 250g blocks of salted and unsalted butter has fallen from £1.99 to £1.89. Tesco said it will continue to work closely with its suppliers to manage any further volatility.
Tesco group chief product officer Ashwin Prasad said: "As families continue to watch their weekly spend and budget carefully, we're pleased to be able to pass on price reductions where we can, and to help with everyday essentials like bread and butter."
The grocer said prices could vary in its Express stores. Discounters Aldi and Lidl also announced matching price cuts on Wednesday.
Aldi dropped the price of its 800g Village Bakery Toastie thick sliced white bread, medium sliced white bread and wholemeal medium sliced bread from 79p to 75p, and the cost of its Cowbelle British and Welsh salted and unsalted 250g butter from £1.99 to £1.89. Lidl said its Dairy Manor salted and unsalted butter now cost £1.89, while the price of its Selected Rowan Hill Bakery Bread has been cut to 75p.
The cuts come a day after Sainsbury's announced it had dropped the price of some of its lines of bread and butter in response to falling commodity prices. The UK's second-biggest supermarket chain has also lowered the price of its own-brand 250g salted and unsalted butter by 5% to £1.89 and has cut the price of its 800g Soft White Medium, Wholemeal Medium, Wholemeal Thick and Toastie White loaves of bread by 11% to 75p.
Sainsbury's said it has been able to lower some prices due to commodity prices for wheat and butter beginning to fall. The cuts come as grocery inflation leapt by more than 19% in March compared with a year ago, as energy and supply chain costs were passed on to shoppers. Sainsbury's and Tesco recently cut the price of milk by at least 5p, followed by Aldi, Lidl and Asda.
