Britannia may raise prices...

Britannia Industries, the country’s largest biscuit producer, today said it will go for a price hike if input costs continue to spiral.

The company has raised prices by 8-12 per cent on its various products earlier this year to pass on the rise in cost of inputs such as wheat, milk and edible oils.

“We would prefer to keep prices stable, but we have to protect our margins as well. Therefore, we cannot rule out a price hike if input cost continues to rise,” said Neeraj Chandra, vice-president (sales and marketing) at Britannia.

Chandra said that there has been an average cost-push of about 20 per cent on the input side. He was speaking to the media at the launch of NutriChoice 5 Grain biscuits.

While prices of wheat, main input for biscuits, are largely stable as the country saw a record wheat production this year, prices of edible oil are now softening after touching historical highs.

Sugar, another important input, which fell by over 40 per cent in 2007-08, has seen a 25 per cent jump since July as production is set to decline. The increase in fuel prices has added to transportation costs.

Chandra added that biscuit prices had remained stable for seven years and have started moving up only since last one and a half years.

The company saw a 11.63 per cent growth in its net profit (at Rs 40.3 crore) for the quarter ended June 30 while net sales grew over 20 per cent to Rs 693 crore.

Source: Business Standard