Supermarket chain Giant will be selling more than 100 essential products at a discount of about 20 per cent on average from today, with the extension of a campaign launched last September to address cost of living issues amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dairy Farm Group, which operates supermarket chains Giant and Cold Storage, said the list includes non-food items.

Giant had slashed prices on 650 products last year when the Lower Prices That Last campaign was rolled out.

Mr Chris Bush, Dairy Farm's chief executive for its South-east Asia food business, said: "Customers are still anxious about the uncertainty of the future.

"We are far from where we were before the pandemic and that creates a lot of anxiety from financial uncertainty."

He added that it will cost Giant an additional $4 million to expand and extend the $17 million campaign by another nine months.

Giant decided on the new list based on the most commonly purchased products at the supermarket chain.

With the discounts, items like the Kirei Kirei anti-bacterial foaming hand soap (200ml refill pack), will cost $1.50, almost 40 per cent cheaper than its original price of $2.35.

A piece of fresh sweet corn from Malaysia will be sold at 50 cents, down from 95 cents, and the Kraft Philadelphia 250gm cream cheese block will be sold at $5.50 instead of $6.60.

Mr Bush said Dairy Farm is funding the campaign in part with cost savings from productivity gains.

He added: "We have a number of improvement programmes in our business to become more productive - such as through the use of technology, the way in which we source our products and our supply chain efficiencies.

"We reinvest that cost value back in prices for customers."

Separately, Mr Bush said Dairy Farm's exclusive brand Meadows will launch more than 80 new products, including staples such as oil, cereal and spices, throughout this month and the next.