Aldi and Lidl have matched Sainsbury’s and Tesco in cutting milk prices as production costs begin to fall.
All four retailers have cut the price on four pints of milk this week from £1.65 to £1.55 – a 6% fall.
The price of two pints is down from £1.30 to £1.25, while one pint has fallen from 95p to 90p.
Milk prices hit an all-time high earlier this year following average annual rises of 43%, according to ONS in February.
“We’ve seen some cost price deflation for milk across the market in recent times, and we want to take this opportunity to pass that reduction on to customers,” said Tesco UK CEO Jason Tarry on Thursday.
Sainsbury’s echoed the comment, saying it was “working hard to keep prices low, especially on the everyday essentials people buy the most”.
It comes as farmgate milk prices begin to fall, official government data shows. Prices peaked at 51.6p per litre in December 2022, but are now down to 48p per litre – a fall of 7%.
Both Sainsbury’s and Tesco have confirmed that milk price cuts in stores will not affect how much they pay their farmers.
Sainsbury’s has developed a pricing model called the Cost of Production, which was voted through by farmers. Sainsbury’s says it protects farmers against price cuts in the market.
Meanwhile, Tesco said the price it paid farmers was set independently to in-store prices and took into account fluctuations in input costs such as fuel, feed, fertiliser and labour.
This is the second time Sainsbury’s has followed Tesco’s lead this week, with the launch of its Nectar Prices announced on Tuesday.
The scheme, which is similar to Tesco’s Clubcard initiative, offers customers discounts on more than 300 products in-store and online including Heinz Beanz, Nescafé coffee and Coke Zero Sugar multipacks when using a Nectar card or app at the checkout.
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