Asda, Morrisons cut prices of key items

LONDON, Apr 25 (Reuters): Asda and Morrisons said on Monday that they would cut the prices of essential items, ratcheting-up competition in Britain'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 per cent 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 so-called known value goods, of which shoppers instinctively know the cost, while pushing up the prices of others.