Sainsbury’s follows Tesco in cutting price of milk

Sainsbury’s has followed its rival Tesco in cutting the price of its milk, state recent reports.

The supermarket said it was reducing the price of its four-pint own brand bottle to £1.55 on Thursday (13), after Tesco did the same on Wednesday (12). Tesco cut the price of milk to 90p for a pint or £1.55 for four pints – a reduction of 10p – for the first time since 2020 this week.

Unlike Tesco, who said it made the move because its costs for buying in milk had fallen, Sainsbury’s did not give a reason for its decision.

“With costs going up, we are working hard to keep prices low, especially on the everyday essentials people buy the most,” The Guardian quoted a Sainsbury’s spokesperson as saying.

Industry insiders said the retail price reductions came after large wholesalers cut their prices by an unprecedented 5p a litre owing to “spring flush” – a time when cows naturally tend to produce more milk as they are let out into fields – had led to oversupply.

The move from Sainsbury’s and Tesco comes at a time when food inflation is at its highest level since 1978 and latest figures show that food prices increased 18.2 per cent from February 2022 to February this year.

Milk alone has risen by 43 per cent in price over the same period, one of many staples, including cheese and eggs, which have surged in cost and squeezed household budgets.

Global energy and commodity prices have come down in recent months, but the  National Farmers’ Union’s Dairy Board chair, Michael Oakes, has predicted a “challenging springtime” for dairy farmers as the price paid falls below the cost of production.