Asda and Tesco kick off latest fuel price war
SUPERMARKET chain Tesco kicked off another fuel price war yesterday, swiftly followed by Asda, following a decline in the wholesale cost of petrol and diesel despite escalating political unrest in Ukraine.
Tesco cut the price of its petrol and diesel by one pence per litre (ppl) from yesterday afternoon. Asda is lowering its diesel by two ppl to 132.7 ppl – its lowest price since July 2012 – and its unleaded petrol by one ppl to 126.7 ppl from today.
But Sainsbury’s and Morrisons spokespersons told City PM yesterday that they were not joining the battle with their own price cuts.
“Despite traders cautiously buying up fuel stocks last week because of the unrest in Ukraine and thereby threatening to send prices up, the wholesale cost of petrol and diesel actually eased,” said Pete Williams, head of external affairs at RAC.
“Major retailers have reacted swiftly to this by passing on savings at the forecourt which is good news for motorists,” he said.