A €123 million (£80 million sterling) price cuts campaign at Tesco in the UK will not apply to its outlets here.

The cuts are part of an ongoing supermarket price war in the UK involving Tesco and Asda.

Price cuts in every-day items will apply from today in the UK and will involve more than 1,000 products with some prices falling by more than 30 per cent.

Tesco UK said the cuts would apply to ranges of fresh pasta, bottled water, oriental sauces and quiches, pizzas, crisps and milkshakes as well as skin and hair care products, razor blades andtoothpaste.

The cuts came as rival Asda also said it was slashing selected prices in its George clothing range. A spokeswoman for Asda said: "They are permanent price cuts. It is part of an ongoing commitment to pass any savings we can make back to customers. The reason we can do this is because we were bought by Wal-Mart in 1999 so we have much more buying power."

The cuts echo memories of the supermarket price wars played out in 1999 as stores fought to capture more customers and increased market share. News of the price cuts has raised the prospect that Sainsbury's and Safeway would lose market share this year to Tesco and Asda.

A spokesman for Tesco in the Republic said the supermarket group's operations here were run separately to those in the UK and the cuts would not apply. However, he said Tesco here had been running its own "price cutting strategy" since mid-2000 and that the price of five basic products - milk, bread, eggs, butter and sugar - were lower now than then.