Nestle Price Hike Now in Full Swing

Nestle now joins brands in the FMCG industry to raise the prices of its food products further this year to offset higher production costs as an effect of post-pandemic sales. Still, it has yet to pass on to consumers entirely, Chief Executive Mark Schneider told a German newspaper. 

In an interview due for publication on Sunday, Schneider was quoted as telling Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that "the increases will not be as steep as they were in 2022, but we have some catching up to do over the full year." 

In the first nine months of 2022, Nestle posted sales of 69.1 billion Swiss francs ($69.4 billion), beating the 68.9 billion francs forecast in a company-gathered consensus of 23 analysts. 

Most of the organic growth increase last year came from higher pricing, accounting for 7.5% points of the 8.5% increase, while volumes increased by 1% over the period. 

As a result, Nestle raised its full-year outlook, saying it now expected organic growth of "around 8%" for 2022, up from a 7% to 8% increase previously. 

The Swiss company also confirmed its target for a trading operating profit margin of around 17%. 

Inflation in many developed economies has been running at multi-decade highs, primarily driven by food and energy prices.