Heinz to increase prices second time in a year

Heinz is raising its prices for the second time in less than a year, stated a recent report.

The company told The Telegraph that as costs of energy and ingredients continued to rise, it had been forced to raise prices.

“Like the rest of the food industry, we continue to face significantly increased production costs – whether it’s ingredients, energy, or packaging – and rising inflation.

“We’re trying to absorb costs wherever we can, however we’ve unfortunately had to increase our recommended retail prices,” a Kraft Heinz spokesman said, adding that as it is managing inflationary pressures, increasing the prices is a “last resort”.

The company had also “adapted our offer to consumers with different pack sizes, value ranges and lower price points”, he said, adding that Heinz would attempt to “offset” pressure on consumers by offering different kinds of promotions in stores.

It is understood that Heinz has agreed the latest price increases with its major stockists and is not facing any comparable pushback.

Last summer, Tesco had refused to accept a price increase, so Heinz stopped making deliveries. At the time Tesco said it would not pass on “unjustifiable” price increases. An agreement was eventually increased after which Heinz agreed to keep the prices of some key products down.

This year, Tesco has locked the price of 19 Heinz products until Easter as part of a broader price lock campaign by the retailer, and advised that it matches Aldi on 12 further lines.

However, Heinz’s prices have been going up in Aldi, too.

The report comes as grocery prices continue to hit painful highs. Grocery price inflation stood at 14.6 per cent in December, although this was down marginally from November, according to Kantar.