Tesco To Reduce The Price Of Its Bread

Wednesday, 10 May 2023 14:08

Last week retailers cut the price of milk and butter.

Tesco has announced it's reducing the price of its own brand bread by 10 cent.

It follows cuts by retailers to the price of butter and milk.

From tomorrow, Tesco own brand 800g white sliced pan will cost 89 cent, down from 99 cent.

Meanwhile, the Taoiseach says the consumer protection watchdog has cautiously warned against introducing price caps on groceries.

Talks between the Government and supermarkets are due to get underway at two o'clock, to look at how the price of food could be lowered.

The Government has the power to introduce price caps.

But, speaking in the Dáil, Leo Varadkar says the CCPC has issued advice on that:

Sinn Fein has challenged the Government to outline what measures it will take if supermarkets don't bring down their prices.

Party leader Mary Lou McDonald says families are struggling with weekly shopping bills, and action is needed now:

Her colleague in Laois Offaly Brian Stanley believes Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party are out of touch with workers and families struggling with the escalating cost of living including sky high food prices.

He says “I don’t see any sense of urgency from Government to tackle this issue, and I am calling on Government TD’s to stand up for the people of Laois and Offaly. This pressure has been exacerbated by Government's failure to intervene to reduce energy bills or provide mortgage relief from ever-rising interest rates. There has been a failure to date to implement a windfall tax on the large energy companies. Their challenges are being compounded by soaring grocery and food bills, which have increased by almost 17 per cent over the past year.

In a statement to Midlands 103, he says inflation in Irish supermarkets is at the highest level ever recorded by retail analysts Kantar across the past 12 months, with food inflation at 16.6%, which means average annual grocery bills would rise by approximately €1,200, and Government inaction has led to a growing reliance on food banks.

He wants the Government to instruct the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to investigate possible price-gouging in the grocery sector and further increase weekly social welfare and pension rates to stem the flow of families and pensioners into food poverty.

In addition, Sinn Fein is also calling on Government to amend the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022 to give the proposed Agri-Food Regulator powers to investigate anti-competitive practices in the agri-food supply chain.