The Unilever
boss has defended the multinational’s decision to raise the price of
Marmite, saying many other suppliers have followed suit with price rises
or by reducing the size of products in response to the weakening pound.
Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, removed Marmite and other household brands made by Unilever from its website last October, after the manufacturer tried to raise its prices by about 10% owing to sterling’s slump after the Brexit vote.
Tesco and Unilever resolved their dispute, but the price of Marmite has been sharply increased in UK supermarkets.
Paul Polman, chief executive of Unilever, said the decision to raise
prices was “definitely the right one” given that sterling fell against
the dollar by up to 20% last year.
He said Unilever,
which also makes household brands such Flora margarine, Magnum
ice-cream and Dove soap, had to balance “value for money” for shoppers
with “long-term” factors.
Polman added: “That is true for us and true for others, otherwise you end up being unsustainable.”
The Unilever boss said that since the company increased prices many
other items – including own-brand supermarket products – had risen in
price or shrunk in size, a process known as “shrinkflation”.
Polman was speaking as Unilever reported revenues had fallen by 1% to €52.7bn (£44.9bn) in 2016.
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