Unilever Raises Product Prices by 8.3% in Q1... Expected to Increase Further in H2

[Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] British household goods company Unilever has raised product prices by 8.3% in the first quarter of this year.

According to major foreign media on the 28th (local time), Unilever's product sales volume decreased by 1% in the first quarter of this year, but revenue increased by 7.3%. This was thanks to raising product prices in the first quarter to a level higher than market expectations. Home care product prices increased by an average of 12.5%, and beauty and personal care product prices rose by an average of 7.4%.

Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever, stated that since 2020, the prices of most raw materials used by Unilever have increased two to three times. CEO Jope said, "We know it is a burden for consumers, but considering the extreme rise in raw material prices, we believe the price increase is justified."

Unilever is expected to raise prices again in the second half of the year. Unilever anticipates that the cost burden caused by rising raw material prices due to the Ukraine war will increase further in the second half. The company expects the cost burden from raw material price increases to reach 2.1 billion euros in the first half and 2.7 billion euros in the second half. It also explained that the expected cost burden for the second half has significantly increased from 1.5 billion euros three months ago.

At the end of last year, Unilever made three acquisition offers to acquire GlaxoSmithKline's consumer healthcare business but was rejected. After the acquisition proposal became known, it also faced backlash from shareholders. Since CEO Jope took office in early 2019, Unilever's stock price has fallen by about 12.5% to date.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.