Shoppers in South East Cornwall are among those beginning to reap the benefits from the supermarket price-war which has seen prices tumble since Asda joined forces with American giant Wal-Mart - and vowed to rollback the cost of filling a supermarket trolley.

The affect has led to a variety of differing prices for top-named brands in the area's supermarkets, and among the stores' own economy-brand items. One example of products which are now 'cut price' is sugar. A one kilo bag was as low as 42p in Liskeard's Somerfield, when at one time it would have reached a high of over 80p in some shops.

To highlight the way prices do alter between stores The Cornish Times visited seven outlets earlier this week and checked how much a selected 20 items cost. Visits were made to Somerfield stores in Liskeard, Looe and Saltash, to Safeway in Liskeard, to Pioneer in Callington, and to both Asda and the new Lidl supermarkets in St Austell. Despite St Austell falling within mid rather than South East Cornwall it is Asda's tie-in with Wal-Mart which has stepped up cuts in prices.

The list of items checked included staple items such as Hovis white medium sliced bread, sugar, six free range medium eggs, a 2.5 kilo bag of potatoes, a 250g pack of Anchor butter, a 500gm pack of lean mince and 80 Tetley tea bags (for full list see page 8). There was little difference in price between some products.

Butter

There was scant difference between the cost of Anchor butter - it being available at 79p almost everywhere - or Bird's Eye fishfingers at £1.59. However there was a difference of l4p in the l00g jar of Nescafe Gold Blend which could be bought at Asda (£2.25) and the £2.39 it was priced at in four other stores.

Free range eggs also produce an anomaly, with six medium free range eggs available for 73p in one store, but at way over £1 in others.

The survey also shows up differences in the three Somerfield supermarkets surveyed, which are sited in different towns in the district. Looe's Somerfield, overall, had seven items on our shopping list which were priced higher than on the same products in the company's Liskeard and Saltash stores.

And some items such as ten packs of Birds Eye Fish Fingers, 2.5 kilo bags of potatoes, on which there were special offers in the other two stores, and Somerfields own equivalent of Weetabix, were not even available. The small store also had only two choices of shampoo.

A spokesperson from