Nestlé joins other firms in warning further price rises are in store
Consumers face paying more for popular products including confectionery, cleaning products and over-the-counter medicines, after more firms including the KitKat-maker Nestlé said they would put up their prices this year amid rising costs.
Nestlé, which also makes Nespresso coffee pods, Häagen-Dazs ice-cream and Purina pet food, said it expected its costs to increase further this year and would pass some of the rises on to consumers.
The Swiss food group increased its prices throughout 2021 to 3.1% in the final three months of the year, and said it intended to protect its profit margins.
“It is a safe assumption that our input cost increases for 2022 will be higher than 2021, that is something that we have to reflect in our pricing,” said Mark Schneider, its chief executive, on Thursday. “There is almost no place in the company that is exempt of inflation now … Some of these things you can hedge against, some not.”
Nestlé reported 7.5% organic growth for 2021, which was higher than forecast, that included 2% growth arising from price increases.
Britain’s households are suffering from a squeeze on their earnings, as the price of goods and services – from food to energy bills to TV and broadband contracts – rises. The UK’s inflation rate hit 5.5% in January, the highest annual jump in the cost of living in almost 30 years.
According to official figures, more than three-quarters of UK adults (76%) reported that their cost of living had increased over the last month, a rise of seven percentage points from late January.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said increasing food shop prices was the most-frequently reported reason for the cost of living crunch (90%), followed by rising energy bills (77%) and increases in the price
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