Budget retailers Aldi and Lidl have become the latest retailers to cut the cost of milk. They joined supermarkets Sainsbury's and Tesco in cutting the price of the white stuff.
In fact, it was Tesco that seemingly started the price war by cutting the price of four pints £1.65 to £1.55. Two pints were reduced from £1.30 to £1.25 and one pint from 95p to 90p.
Sainsbury's then followed suit on Thursday, with Aldi introducing identical price cuts today. Lidl told The Mirror it is also cutting milk prices to the same amount.
Some analysts have suggested this is a possible sign that grocery prices could finally start to come down. Last month, the Office for National Statistics said prices for food and non-alcoholic drinks increased by 18.3% on a yearly basis.
It comes as Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation - which measures the change in the price of goods and services over time - remains in double-digit figures. It now stands at 10.4%.
Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell in Bristol, told the BBC yesterday the price cuts are "some light at the end of the inflationary tunnel for consumers". He added: "It also suggests that the UK's fiercely competitive supermarket sector isn't simply going to cash in on profits as wholesale costs fall, because there's always a competitor waiting in the wings to do some undercutting.
Another financial expert told the Daily Mail that the "supermarket price war" had been underway "for a considerable amount of time". Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor said: "'The supermarket price war has been underway for some considerable time, and in the current environment basement prices have become extremely important to the cost-pressured consumer.
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"The reduction in milk prices will be a welcome development, but with food inflation overall still around 17%, upward pressure on prices are very much intact."
Tesco said it is the first time it has cut the price of milk since May 2020. Tesco UK chief executive Jason Tarry said: “Milk is a key everyday staple for so many families.
“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. This will not affect the price we pay our farmers.”
