Nestlé, the largest food and drink company in the world, raised prices by a collective 9.8% in the first three months of the year as inflationary pressures increased input costs for the business.
The Swiss conglomerate, which owns a variety of food brands such as Purina, Gerber, Nescafe, and KitKat, said in an earnings report that the price increases in several markets across the world came as a result of “significant cost inflation.” The firm’s Latin American and North American markets saw 13.4% and 12.4% price hikes respectively, while the European market saw a 10.7% price increase and the Chinese market saw a 3.9% price increase.
“Nestlé delivered strong organic growth in the first quarter, as our teams worked diligently to protect volume and ensure resilient mix,” Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said in the earnings report. “Portfolio optimization efforts and responsible pricing helped to offset the ongoing pressures from two years of cost inflation.”
The company meanwhile reported 5.6% worldwide sales growth and a 0.5% decrease in real internal growth, a metric which the company says represents the impact on sales of volume increases or decreases, weighted by the relative value of each unit sold.
Inflation in the United States rose 5.0% between March 2022 and March 2023, marking a reprieve from the 9.1% inflation rate charted last summer. Food inflation nevertheless continues to trend well above other categories: the cost of food at home rose 8.4% year-over-year as of last month, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Largest Food Company Suddenly Raises Prices By 10%
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