Rising input costs have made ice-creams costlier with brands like Mother Dairy hiking prices of some its products by over 26%. Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) brand Kwality Walls has also increased prices by over 6% from beginning of April.
Delhi-based dairy products company Mother Dairy, with a market share of 7% in the ice-cream category, has hiked the prices of one of its products by almost 26% and it has also resorted to simultaneously weight-addition and price-hike of a few of its brick ice-cream brands. However, an e-mail query to Mother dairy about the price hike remains unanswered.
??The company increased the price of its Kesar Pista brick from Rs 115 to 145 almost two weeks ago,?? said an ice-cream vendor. ??From beginning of this month, Mother Dairy increased the prices and quantity of its few brick flavours like the vanilla brick, from 1.25 litre to 1.5 litre and has increased the price of the same product from Rs 75 to Rs 85. The company has also increased the weight and price of products like Choco Chip from Rs 125 to Rs 135, Butter Scotch from Rs 125 to Rs 130, the vendor added.
Kwality Walls, with a market share of 8% in the ice-cream segment, has also increased prices by over 6 % from beginning of a sultry April. ?Kwality Walls increased the price of its vanilla brick from Rs 75 to Rs 80, its strawberry brick from Rs Rs 75 to Rs 80,? another ice cream vendor said.
According to an industry analyst, ice-cream prices have soared on the back of rising prices of milk and milk products. In the recent past, the ice cream business has witnessed a significant escalation in costs of raw material like skimmed milk powder. The milk procurement prices have also gone up by 30%, he added.