Consumer goods giant Unilever warns on high inflation

British consumer goods group Unilever on Thursday warned that high cost pressures would continue into next year, as it posted rising sales thanks to price hikes.

“Cost inflation remains at strongly elevated levels, and this will continue into next year,” said Alan Jope, chief executive of the company making food, cleaning and beauty products.

“We have and will continue to respond across our categories and markets, taking appropriate pricing action and implementing a range of productivity measures to offset increased costs,” he added in a Unilever trading update.

The world is experiencing strong inflation as economies reopen from pandemic lockdowns amid supply constraints and strong demand.

Costs of raw materials and energy are surging, while a number of sectors are impacted additionally by a need to pay higher wages as they struggle to find staff.

Unilever, whose products include Magnum ice-cream, Cif surface cleaner and Dove soap, said its sales jumped 4.0 per cent to 13.5 billion euros ($15.7 billion) in the third quarter.

“The group has been raising prices to defend its margins against a panoply of higher costs... but at some cost to sales volumes in the quarter” to the end of September, noted Steve Clayton, fund manager at Hargreaves Lansdown.