Tuesday 31 January 2017

Weetabix Lovers Could See Increasing Price Rises

Weetabix

The cereal company, which is the biggest in the UK, said that if prices go up, they’ll be in the “low single digits”.

A pack of 48 Weetabix costs £4.18 at the moment. A rise of five per cent would see prices go up just over 20p.

Giles Turrell, chief executive of Weetabix, told the BBC this morning that price rises would be a “last resort”.

Although the company harvests its wheat in Northamptonshire, wheat is sold in dollars on global markets, meaning it now takes more pounds to buy the same amount.

The price warning comes as Weetabix announced it would be investing £30 million in increasing production capacity at its sites in Burton Latimer and Corby by 2018.

The boost to manufacturing volumes is in response to rising sales in 2016, with the brand’s UK cereal and drinks market share up from 15.3 to 16.4 per cent.

The company saw a rise in sales of Alpen, Weetabix and its newly launched Weetabix Protein cereal.

Weetabix is the latest in a long line of companies to announce price increases following the EU referendum last June.

Lego, Unilever, Walkers and Typhoo are just some of the brands that have, or plan to, put their prices up this year as a result of the falling value of the pound since June.

Premier foods, the maker of Mr Kipling cakes and Bisto gravy, earlier this month said it was in talks with some of its biggest retail customers about cranking up prices as a result of the twin pressures of the tumbling pound and rising commodity prices.

High street chain Next also warned shoppers they could face price rises of up to 5 per cent in 2017 due to the falling pound, with cost pressures likely hitting annual profits by up to 14 per cent.

Weetabix has been made in the UK since 1932. It’s Chinese owners Bright Food, which bought its 60 per cent stake in 2012, are thought to be putting it up for sale again.


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