The mults are competing to offer the cheapest own label peanut butter despite an ongoing shortage of Argentinian peanut exports to Europe, which is driving up ingredient costs for suppliers.
Shelf prices of comparable crunchy own label peanut butter lines have dropped an average of 12% month on month across the traditional big four, Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose, according to The Grocer’s Key Value Items Tracker [Assosia 52 w/e 7 March 2024].
The price of Aldi’s Grandessa Crunchy Peanut Butter 340g, for instance, fell 12.8% from £1.25 to £1.09. Asda, Lidl and Sainsbury’s 340g takes on crunchy peanut butter followed suit with the same change in price.
Morrisons Crunchy Peanut Butter 340g saw the largest price drop. It fell 26.8% month on month, from £1.49 to £1.25 on 19 February, and then to £1.09 on 22 February.
A spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s said it was “committed to offering our customers great choice and value”.
Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Waitrose and Tesco had not commented at the time of writing.
The price drops come as more shoppers trade down to own label.
They are bucking the longer-term trend of the overall peanut butter market in the big four – where 57 of 123, or 46.4%, of available SKUs have risen in price year on year [Assosia 13 March 2023 vs 13 March 2024]. At the same time, just 17 (13.8%) have seen shelf prices fall.
The wider peanut butter category is likely facing the same input cost pressures as bagged nuts. In January, The Grocer reported month-on-month shelf prices of own label salted peanuts had rocketed.
A reduction in the volume of exports from Argentina was the “main driver pushing up prices”, said Aidan Wright, Mintec senior commodity analyst & methodology lead.
Prices for old crop were still “elevated” at the time of writing, according to Wright.
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