OFT raids UK supermarkets and suppliers -paper

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Britain's consumer affairs watchdog raided major supermarket operators and their suppliers on Thursday as part of its biggest-ever probe, into alleged price fixing, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.

A spokeswoman for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) would not comment on the report which said the OFT was investigating the prices of health and beauty products as well as groceries.

The Sunday Telegraph said head offices of the four big supermarket chains -- Wal-Mart (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) owned Asda, Morrisons (MRW.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Sainsbury (SBRY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Tesco (TSCO.L: Quote, Profile, Research) -- as well as smaller operators were visited by the OFT which took copies of e-mails.

The paper also said Britain's Competition Commission will soon publish the results of a separate two-year investigation into the grocery market.

A spokeswoman for Tesco would not comment on the report but said that in general the company absolutely denied any allegations of collusion. None of the other three big supermarkets were immediately available for comment.

Food prices have been rising worldwide as more prosperous emerging economies, led by China, have the means to buy more milk, cereals and meat. Latest official data showed British food prices rose 5.5 percent in the year to March.

The OFT is working on two major investigations involving supermarkets: a long-running inquiry into milk prices and one on cigarette pricing, with the latter only made public on Friday.

The OFT has accused tobacco companies and retailers, including the big four supermarket chains, of fixing prices on cigarettes between 2000 and 2003.

It has been a busy period for the OFT.