A BANANA war has broken out in Bolton supermarkets.

Store bosses are peeling back prices, and putting pressure on independent greengrocers.

Asda cut the price of loose bananas by 17p last month, to 68p a kilogramme. Competitors, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrison's, followed suit, dropping prices in their stores nationwide.

But while customers at the stores in Bolton are enjoying bargain bunches, the town's greengrocers are feeling the strain.

John Bates, aged 60, has run a fruit and veg stall on Bolton's Ashburner Street Market and Bury Market for the past 40 years.

He said: "We've got to compete with the supermarkets and this puts pressure on us. I'm currently buying bananas for 50p a kilogramme and selling them for 77p. I have to take less profit if I want to keep up.

"My fruit is fresh every morning and I offer a personal service which you can't get at supermarkets."

A spokesman for Asda, which has four stores in Bolton - including branches in Astley Bridge and at Middlebrook - said: "Bananas are a shopping basket staple. We are a low-price supermarket and we cut the price of bananas on April 16 to offer our customers the best value."

The move has been criticised by third world campaigners who are fighting for fair wages for banana pickers.

Colin Meah, manager of Sainsbury's, in Trinity Street, Bolton, which has also dropped prices to 68p a kilogramme, said: "We're always competitive with our bananas. We only sell Fairtrade ones, so not only is the price lower for customers but some of that money goes back into communities in the Caribbean Windward Islands where they are grown."