The ongoing war in Ukraine has had knock-on effects on the prices of various goods and services in the Netherlands, as the national inflation rate continues to rise. In recent weeks, a number of key brands - including Heineken, Nestlé and Unilever - have announced price hikes across several of their products.
Unilever, the multinational company behind various leading brands including Dove, Ben & Jerry’s, and Knorr, announced in its most recent trading statement that a number of products have become more expensive in the first quarter of 2022.
Across all brands in Europe, Unilever says in-store prices have increased by an average of 8,3 percent over the past few months - and has revealed that production costs are likely to rise further in the near future, but failed to confirm how this would translate to prices on the shelves.
However, in its outlook for the rest of the year, Unilever did provide some insight into what consumers should expect: “We continue to expect input cost inflation of around 2,1 billion euros in the first half [of 2022]...and around 2,7 billion euros [in the second half].”
Similarly, Nestlé, which owns brands such as Maggi, Häagen-Dazs and Perrier, is set to raise its prices for the second time in the span of six months. At the end of 2021, the Swiss international company increased prices as a result of the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic. They also acknowledged that the rising cost of energy and various other raw materials will mean a number of leading brands are set to become even more expensive.
“Cost inflation continues to increase sharply, which will require further pricing and mitigating actions over the course of the year,” Nestlé said in a statement on its website. In the first quarter of this year, prices in Europe rose by an average of 4,1 percent “to reflect significant cost inflation.”
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