Aldi and Lidl are the latest supermarkets to cut the price of milk following a move by Tesco earlier this week
Tesco cut the cost of its four-pint bottle by 10p to £1.55p on Wednesday, with two-pint and one-pint bottles cut by 5p.
Sainsbury's quickly matched the move, which was Tesco’s first reduction in the price of milk since May 2020, and now Aldi and Lidl have followed suit.
The two discounters said they were cutting the cost of their own brand bottles “to match other retailers”.
Aldi, Sainsbury's and Tesco all stated the price reduction will not be paid for by suppliers, with no change to existing arrangements, though Lidl had yet to comment.
Falling wholesale costs of milk were the reason Tesco gave for the cut even though, at 18.2%, food inflation is at its highest level since 1978.
Economists suggest, however, this is a lagging indicator and with energy costs sharply down since August some of the recent inflation pressure might be easing.
Tesco was slammed yesterday by union Unite for making “obscene” profits after it reported annual underlying profits of £2.6bn and a £750mln share buyback.
Revenues rose by 7% to £66bn and pre-tax earnings dropped 51% to £1bn but this was largely due to one-off impairment charges.
Sue Davies, head of food policy at consumer group Which?, said the results “show Tesco is doing very well during the cost of living crisis, while millions of its customers struggle to put food on the table due to soaring grocery price inflation".
Ken Murphy, the grocery chain's chief executive, later defended the results saying it has shielded customers from the full force of ‘unprecedented’ cost pressures it was facing.
Murphy added he expects food price rises to "moderate" in the second half of this year after more hikes during the first half.
Shares in Tesco edged down 0.3% today to 268.3p, with Sainsbury's off by a similar amount at 277.4p.