Dettol, Harpic, KitKat to become costlier as makers warn further price rise

Britons are set to shell more pounds in stores as both Nestlé and the Dettol manufacturer Reckitt have indicated they will pass on rising costs in the form of higher prices this year.

The consumer goods company Reckitt, the maker of brands such as Harpic, Nurofen and Strepsils, revealed on Thursday (17) that its costs increased on average by 11 percent during 2021, adding that these would climb even higher this year.

The Berkshire-based firm, which was formerly known as Reckitt Benckiser, said it was absorbing some of its rising costs, but was increasing prices of some of its products.

“We are passing some pricing on to consumers, but we minimise that through programmes that we have internally, such as productivity programmes,” said Jeff Carr, its chief financial officer. “Prices have gone up but we’re absorbing a significant part of that inflation, and we’re not passing it on to consumers. We want to get good offers to our consumers, we want to be competitive.”

Reckitt said it was seeing “across the board” increases in the price of raw materials, especially those related to crude oil such as plastics, as well as tinplate – used for making tin cans – and dairy products.

Meanwhile, Nestlé, which also makes Kitkat, Nespresso coffee pods, Häagen-Dazs ice-cream and Purina pet food, has also declared that to protect its profit margins amid increasing costs, it will pass some of this extra expense to consumers.

Nestlé increased its prices throughout 2021, and by the final three months of the year they were 3.1 percent higher.

“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 (17).

“There is almost no place in the company that is exempt of inflation now … Some of these things you can hedge against, some not.”

The announcements from two giants comes as the UK struggles with a cost of living crisis. The inflation rate hit 5.5 percent in January, the highest annual jump in the cost of living in almost 30 years.

Britain’s households are suffering from a squeeze on their earnings, as the price of goods and services – from food to energy bills– rises.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said increasing food shop prices was the most-frequently reported reason for the cost of living crunch (90 percent), followed by rising energy bills (77 percent) and increases in the price of fuel (69 percent).