Asda cuts the prices of over 100 essential items
Asda to invest 73 mln stg to lower prices
Morrisons cuts the prices of over 500 products
A quarter of UK public struggling to pay bills

LONDON, April 25 Reuters Asda and Morrisons said on Monday that they would cut the prices of essential items, ratchetingup competition in Britain39;s food retail sector against a backdrop of soaring inflation and slumping consumer confidence.

Surging prices are causing the biggest squeeze on household incomes since at least the 1950s in Britain, where grocery price inflation hit 5.2 over the four weeks to March 20, the highest level since April 2012, industry data last month showed.

Almost a quarter of people in Britain found it difficult to pay their household bills even before hikes in regulated energy prices took effect, an official survey showed. 

Supermarket groups typically try to keep down the prices of socalled known value goods, of which shoppers instinctively know the cost, while pushing up the prices of others.

Asda, Britain39;s third largest grocer after market leader Tesco and Sainsbury39;s, said it would invest over 73 million pounds 93 million to cut the prices of over 100 items, including fruit and vegetables, meat and rice, and has locked in those prices until the end of 2022.

The group, owned since February last year by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and private equity company TDR Capital, said that on average, prices for the 100 items will drop by 12.

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