Consumers hoping for relief on grocery and household expenses may have to wait longer, with a new survey by CLSA showing that FMCG companies have been raising prices far more aggressively than cutting them over the past two months.
According to CLSA's latest FMCG price survey, price increases have outnumbered price cuts by more than five to one since May, with 252 of the 310 stock keeping units (SKUs) that saw a price revision witnessing hikes, while only 58 products became cheaper. Overall, 18% of the 1,437 FMCG products tracked at DMart saw price increases, while the majority remained unchanged.
The sharpest price hikes were seen in the home care segment, where average prices rose 5.8%, followed by personal care, where prices increased 4.9% on average. Within home care, detergents and air fresheners recorded average hikes of 5.1% and 5.6%, respectively. In personal care, face washes, soaps, moisturisers and shampoos registered price increases ranging between 5.5% and 6.5%.
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Among food products, Britannia Industries' biscuits emerged as one of the biggest gainers. CLSA found that affected Britannia biscuit SKUs saw an average price increase of 8%, while nearly half of the toothpaste SKUs tracked also became more expensive, led largely by Colgate, where prices rose an average 6.1%.
While coconut hair oil prices declined 11% on average, driven by softer raw material costs, value-added hair oils (VAHO) became significantly costlier, with prices increasing 14%. Ayurvedic hair oils, however, bucked the trend with an average 9% decline in prices.
CLSA expects consumer prices to remain volatile, particularly in the home care and personal care categories. The brokerage said recent increases in crude oil prices could translate into higher input costs for products that rely on petrochemical derivatives, limiting the scope for price cuts even in a highly competitive market.
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