Aldi joins grocery price war

German discounter Aldi has joined the grocery price war with reductions on over one-quarter of its range being introduced from today.

Aldi said the price reductions were long-term and were available in all its 67 stores throughout the country.

The price cuts include 20 per cent off olive oil, €1 off a free-range Irish chicken, 33 per cent off toilet rolls and 33 per cent off bananas.

Last week, the State's biggest supermarket chain, Tesco, cut prices at 11 of its border stores by almost 10 per cent and said it would roll out the price reductions in the rest of its network in the near future. The price cuts are part of a strategy to stem the flow of cross-Border shopping and are funded through the sourcing of cheaper product from the UK.

Other chains, including Lidl, SuperValu and now Aldi, have responded with their own price cuts. No announcement has been made by Dunnes Stores or Superquinn, though both have advertised a limited number of price reductions.

Aldi, which earlier this week began construction of a major new distribution hub in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, also stressed its Irish links yesterday. It says more than 40 per cent of all grocery sales are on products bought from Irish suppliers, producers and manufacturers and this business is set to grow in the coming months.