Lidl reduced the prices of its own-brand milk range on Friday, claiming to be the first grocery retailer in Ireland to cut the price of the product since 2023.
It is not a major reduction, one litre of Lidl's milk is now six cent cheaper, with the price of a two-litre container coming down by ten cent.
The move was repeated the following day by fellow German retailer Aldi (€0.06 on one litre of milk, €0.10 on two litres).
All of the major supermarkets watch each other extremely closely when it comes to price and adapt quickly to any adjustments by a rival.
So, it was no surprise then when yesterday Tesco confirmed an almost identical price drop on its own-label milk products.
This afternoon SuperValu confirmed it was also reducing the price of its own-brand milk.
Dunnes Stores has not officially confirmed a similar price cut, however, two litres of its own-label milk is currently priced at €2.35 on its website - suggesting it too has reduced prices in line with other retailers.
Bringing the price of two litres of milk down by ten cent is not going to send shoppers into a frenzy and create massive queues in the chilled goods aisle, but it is symbolic.
Questionable short-lived promotional tactics aside, all we have seen in recent years is food prices going up and up.
Latest figures from the Central Statistics Office last week showed food-price inflation in the year to September rose by 4.7% (well above the general inflation rate of 2.7%).
Outside of meat (+11.2%), dairy products such as milk (+13.5%) have seen some of the biggest price jumps in the last 12 months.
As have other popular consumer items like chocolate (+14%) and coffee (+10.5%).
The retailers know the hikes are hurting consumers, but ultimately any price changes will likely be driven by the businesses' bottom lines.
The traditional supermarkets (Tesco, Dunnes Stores, and SuperValu) are all too aware of a trend of their low-cost rivals eating into their long-established market shares.
Industry figures from September compiled by Worldpanel suggest Dunnes Stores and Tesco are still the dominant players in the market - each with a share of just under 24%.
SuperValu is next on 19.5%.
Then comes Lidl with a 14.2% market share, but the figures indicate the German retailer has the fastest growth of any supermarket (9.5% in the 12 weeks to 7 September).
Aldi holds a 11.6% market share (up 4.7%), while at the same time Worldpanel says Dunnes' sales growth is slowing year-on-year.
Clearly the sustained increase in inflation has changed shoppers' habits and more of us are shopping at Lidl and Aldi than in recent years.
And the Germans are talking a big game regarding more potential price drops.
Lidl said lowering milk prices is "part of a wider series of price reductions coming into effect on everyday essential items", while Aldi said it will "continue to review the market on a daily basis to ensure it remains the best value retailer on price".
If they do end up making more products cheaper, the likes of Tesco's 'Aldi Price Match' promotion would likely see many of those moves matched.
The potential for a price war among retailers can only be good for consumers, but with margins tight across the entire supply chain it will be worth keeping an eye on who's paying for any reductions.
Will the supermarkets absorb them and sacrifice some of their profit margin, or might they squeeze suppliers instead?
In the case of the milk-price reductions, they come amid strong global milk supply that has seen co-ops reduce the amount they are paying dairy farmers per litre.
Supply has caught up with demand and it's unlikely supermarkets are taking much of a hit when reducing their own milk prices.
Aldi has confirmed it is absorbing the cost of the price reduction, while Tesco said it does not "comment on the details behind our commercial decisions".
Other retailers have not confirmed how the reductions are being paid for.
Given milk is a key staple that almost every household would buy and would therefore be especially sensitive to any shift in its price, it's unlikely the retailers will reverse their price cuts any time soon.
With wholesale milk prices falling, similar price drops for other dairy products like butter and cheese might also be expected in the short-to-medium term.
The hope though is these latest moves might trigger battles on price across other essential food staples that are not just short-term promotions but become long-standing reductions.
That is what would likely be needed for shoppers to see some tangible savings.
