Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s to cut price of unleaded petrol by 2p

Supermarket giants Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's are locked in a pricing war after all three pledged to cut the price of fuel by 2p.

The war was triggered by Asda's decision to cut the price of its unleaded fuel by 2p to 122.7p per litre.

Rivals Morrisons and Sainsbury's announced soon after that they too would shave 2p from the price of unleaded petrol from tomorrow and Thursday, respectively.

Ashley Myers, Morrisons Head of Fuel, said: “We’re passing on savings from falling wholesale costs and keeping our fuel prices far below the UK average.”

David Pegg, fuel buying manager for Sainsbury’s, said:  “We always aim to offer our customers great value products and service, whether they’re filling up their trolley in store or filling up their cars at the pumps. We hope that lowering fuel prices will help customers’ budgets, and their cars, go further.”

Asda began its first round of petrol price wars in September, when a 2p cut reduced the price of petrol to about 126.7p for unleaded fuel. Morrisons and Sainsbury’s followed suit shortly after.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “This is excellent news for motorists as it should spark cuts from all retailers bringing the price of petrol down nationwide from its current average of 130.46p a litre. But this is sadly long overdue given the fact the wholesale price of unleaded has been low enough for a significant reduction at the pumps since mid-October.

“We badly need a case of ‘follow the leader’ now and for big retailers to actually have the often-talked-about ‘pump price war’ as that would rightly benefit consumers. Retailers have not played fair with drivers in a falling wholesale market. Asda was the only big four supermarket to cut the price on the forecourt but even that didn’t happen until late in October, while Tesco chose to offer 10p off a litre to customers who spent a certain amount in store.

“When wholesale prices drop retailers should pass savings on to all motorists by cutting their pump prices sooner. This is vital to the UK average price as supermarkets are so influential in fuel retailing they need to drop their prices for others to follow around the country.

“There is also better news on the horizon for diesel drivers. While diesel has risen substantially to an average of 136.79p, and unfortunately still appears to be going up, it should now begin to reduce as the wholesale price has started to fall.”