Parle G, Krackjack to be costlier by 5-10%; company to hike prices across categories

After Britannia hiked prices closer to 4 percent on account of spike in input costs, rival Parle Products increased prices across categories.

Rising input costs have forced Parle to take price hikes of between 10 and 15 percent in the last quarter (July-September). Over the next two quarters too, Parle is expected to take price hikes to the tune of 10 to 20 percent across categories. This would be across biscuits, confectionery, rusks, and snacks.

In Parle's biscuit segment, prices of the iconic Parle G and Krackjack are expected to be hiked by about 5-10 percent, going ahead. For Parle Rusk, the company has hiked prices by about Rs 10 for the 300-gram pack and by about Rs 4 for the 400-gram pack.

For the lower unit packs, which is the Rs 10-20-30 MRP packs, the company is keeping the MRP intact, but is reducing the grammage.

So, that is a combination of direct and indirect price hikes from FMCG players.

Parle says this is on account of the tremendous input cost pressures that the company has been seeing. The key raw materials for the company, that is palm oil prices, has doubled on year-on-year (YoY) basis. Packaging and laminate costs have also been up between 20 and 35 percent. In fact, it is seeing a slight shortage of material on the packaging front. Freight costs also climbed on account of fuel prices rising by about 25 to 30 percent.

In its confectionary business, it has seen wheat prices go up about 10 to 15 percent and sugar prices shoot up almost 20 percent. These have impacted the company's confectionary business.

Not just Britannia or Parle, players across the FMCG industry have been experiencing tremendous input cost pressures. So, more price hikes could be on the cards.