Morrisons and M&S latest to cut staple food prices in boost for shoppers

Morrisons and M&S are the latest supermarkets to cut the price of staple food items in a welcome boost for shoppers.

The chains will reduce the cost of various everyday goods, such as tomatoes, minced beef and Greek yoghurt, in a bid to do more to support families during the cost of living crisis.

Morrisons said the price of more than 47 popular products will be cut by an average of 25%, with the lower prices to remain in place for eight weeks. The price cuts will affect products including squash, cereal and pitta bread.

Meanwhile, M&S is cutting the price of more than 70 items, including beef mince and chickpeas, while also locking in previously made reductions on other goods.

It comes after other rival supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Tesco announced price cuts on hundreds of food products after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into high food and fuel prices.

The CMA said it will look at whether a "failure in competition" meant customers are overpaying.

But supermarkets have denied profiteering, with the British Retail Consortium saying stores are working to keep prices "as low as possible".

Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Aldi and Lidl have all reduced bread, milk and butter prices in the past few months, while last week Asda froze the prices of more than 500 products until the end of August.

Sainsbury’s recently cut the price of its own-brand toilet paper by up to 11%, as the cost to make the paper had fallen for the first time in two years.

Last week Tesco said it has seen reductions in the price of milk, bread and pasta over the past month and there were “early signs” that food inflation is starting to ease.

The next set of Consumer Prices Index figures, due to be released on Wednesday (21 June), is expected to show that food inflation has slowed to 18.2% in May, according to experts at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Pantheon’s senior UK economist Samuel Tombs said this will bring down the wider level of UK inflation to 8.5% in May from 8.7% in April - but this would still be higher than the Bank of England’s expectations.

Latest figures from Kantar, which track supermarket sales and prices, reports a grocery inflation rate of 16.5% over the four weeks to 11 June - down from the 17.2% figure revealed a month ago.

It is currently at its lowest level since last year, but is still the sixth highest monthly figure since 2008.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “This is the lowest rate of grocery price inflation we’ve seen in 2023, which will be a relief to shoppers and retailers.

“But prices rising at 16.5% isn’t something to celebrate and it’s still the sixth highest monthly figure in the past 15 years.

“Price rises are now being compared to the increasing rate of grocery inflation seen last summer, which means that it should continue to fall in the coming months, a welcome result for everyone.”

The figures come as a survey for Kantar found that of consumers’ top five financial worries, rising grocery prices is the only one that they are more concerned about now than at the start of this year.

Almost 70% of households say they are “extremely” or “very worried” about food and drink inflation, compared to just over two thirds when asked the same question in January. It narrowly remains the second most significant concern behind rising energy bills.