Supermarket price wars escalate as Morrisons slashes grocery costs

GROCER Morrisons is looking to escalate the supermarket price wars as it announces cuts of up to 12% on meat and produce.

The Bradford-based supermarket said it would be cutting the cost of 160 items, a month after it announced it would be slashing the prices of 1,000 products in store.

Morrisons has so far cut the prices of 4,435 products as it looks to combat the growth of discounters Lidl and Aldi.

Last week Goldman Sachs downgraded Morrisons’ investment rating on the back of trouble in the grocery sector, despite the leaps and bounds the supermarket had made in its turnaround plans.

Rival Asda has been adopting its own plans, with parent company Walmart executives assuring investors that it would be dealing with the worst-ever quarterly sales drop “aggressively.”

Former Walmart global executive Sean Clarke has taken over the helm and it is on the verge of selling its photo division to Photo-Me to refocus on sales. Asda has already announced a £1.5bn price investment, but has so far been cautious in its plans.