Household supplies, from detergent to diapers, are poised to hit consumers with sticker shocks this fall, even as the United States slowly shakes off its pandemic troubles.
Procter & Gamble – the manufacturer of Tide detergent, Pampers diapers and Gillette razors – said on Tuesday it intends to raise prices for a range of products by September, citing the rising cost of raw materials and transport.
The announcement comes weeks after rival Kimberly-Clark, which produces Scott toilet paper and Huggies diapers, announced single-digit price increases from half to high by June.
Procter & Gamble blamed its price increases on the “impact of rising commodity prices”, including rising raw material costs, such as wood pulp and resin.
Prices are also rising in the food aisle, with shortages causing bizarre demand for products such as grape cereals, which began selling on the black market for up to $ 100 a box in the dark days of the pandemic.
Post, the Minnesota company that produces crunchy, high-fiber grains, said in March that it had returned to full capacity and cited production errors related to increased pandemic demand for the product.
Cheerios General Mills is raising prices for big brands, as is Hormel Foods Corp., which produces Jennie-O ground turkey and Skippy peanut butter. JM Smucker Co. The price of Jif peanut butter has already risen and it is considering increasing its pet products, according to reports.
Paper products are growing due to a lack of cellulose resin and polymers, while other products are becoming more expensive due to increased transportation and transportation costs due to the pandemic, the manufacturers said.
The last time the prices of paper products increased significantly was in 2018, when there was a similar operation of pulp, experts said.
The consumer price index, which measures what consumers pay for most goods, rose 2.6 percent in the year ended March – or the biggest 12-month increase since August 2018, according to government data.
“It’s a different situation, because all over the world, countries are in very different places when it comes to getting out of the pandemic,” Procter & Gamble chief operating officer Jon Moeller told The Wall Street Journal. “There is a very strong consumption in general.”