Bizarre weather patterns in the vineyards of Chile and Egypt has led to a shortage of red seedless grapes, prompting dramatic price rises from every retailer except Somerfield. Asda has kicked off the new Grocer 33 year in the manner it ended it - with a markedly cheaper basket than its competitors. Asda's £47.54 total included the cheapest frozen garlic baguettes and Kleenex For Men tissues - £1.18 or more cheaper than its rivals - giving hayfever sufferers something to smile about and explaining why our shopper found that the tissues were sold out in the Bristol Asda. Morrisons takes second place again, showing a real commitment to lowering prices. But its £48.79 basket contained Stella Artois for 60p more than Asda and Tesco. Morrisons hiked up the price of its red seedless grapes by £1 to £2.99, but they were still the second cheapest on the list. Tesco started the year in third place with a £49.43 basket but it too has made significant price cuts, dropping the price of the class one iceberg lettuce to equal the 65p price-tag at Asda and Morrisons. Its cheapest Australian red wine is also 5p cheaper this week - matching Asda's £2.81 offering. Sainsbury's is sitting on the pricing fence again with a £50.62 basket. Its new potatoes were the second most expensive at £1.30 and the Branston pickle was 14p more expensive than last week. Sainsbury's price hike for red seedless grapes was the joint highest with Tesco - £1.97 to £3.98. Somerfield is getting nicely settled into the position of fifth-cheapest retailer and its basket total this week was more than £2 less than its top-end rival, Waitrose. Somerfield is the champion of red grapes this week - its £2.49 price is £1.48 less than Asda - a rare occasion for The Grocer 33. The most expensive basket was £55.83 and provided by Waitrose. It contained the most expensive own-label beef braising steak on the list at £8.29.

Topics