common people Another blow to inflation has been given to major companies manufacturing consumer goods. Many FMCG product manufacturing companies including HUL, Tata Consumer have increased the prices of soap and tea. Let us tell you that major companies making daily use items like HUL and Wipro have increased the prices of soap by about 7 to 8 percent to reduce the impact of increase in palm oil prices. Palm oil is a major raw material for soap products. Companies like HUL and Tata Consumer have also recently increased tea prices as production has declined due to irregular weather.
Wipro, a unit of Azim Premji-led Wipro Enterprises, owns brands like Santoor. Leading company Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) has also increased the prices of tea and skin cleansing products. These include its soap business under the brands Dove, Lux, Lifebuoy, Liril, Pierce, Rexona etc.
Why did the price of soap increase?
During September quarter results, many listed companies indicated an increase in soap prices in the current quarter to protect their margins. These companies were facing rising costs of commodity inputs such as palm oil, coffee and cocoa. Wipro Consumer Care Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Neeraj Khatri said that there has been a significant increase in the prices of key raw materials in soap making. This has increased by more than 30 percent since the beginning of this year. He said that as a result, all major traders have increased prices by about seven-eight per cent to partially offset the increase. Our pricing adjustments are in line with these market trends.
Palm oil became costlier by 35-40 percent
Palm oil prices have increased by about 35-40 per cent since mid-September due to increase in global prices along with increase in import duty. Palm oil is mainly imported from Indonesia and Malaysia. Currently the price of palm oil is around Rs 1,370 per 10 kg. Besides this, prices of other personal care products of HUL have also increased, according to a distributor. According to Abneesh Roy, executive director (research), Nuvama Institutional Equities, after HUL, most companies will now increase prices.
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