The bean counters at Heinz have hiked the prices of their tinned food, blaming soaring running costs.
Families already struggling to make ends meet face even higher shopping bills as the grocery giant plans its second increase in a matter of months after prices rose 3.8% last year.
In another blow, Nestle – which owns brands including KitKat, Quality Street and Shreddies – has also warned of increases in addition to the 3.1% rise it made late last year.
Today Durex and Dettol owner Reckitt Benckiser piled on the misery with the same bad news, saying it was facing rising costs, from wages and shipping to the price of plastic and oil.
Heinz parent company Kraft Heinz said net sales fell by 3.3% to £4.93billion last year, although analysts claim the results were better than expected.
Its chief executive Miguel Patricio said it was “generating efficiencies” that were “mitigating inflationary pressures”.
Nestle’s chief executive Mark Schneider said: “It is a safe assumption that our input cost increases for 2022 will be higher than 2021, that is something we have to reflect in our pricing.”
And Jeff Carr, chief financial officer at health and cleaning firm Reckitt, which makes Harpic, Finish, Vanish and Nurofen, said costs had increased “across the board”.
The cost of living has hit a 30-year high with inflation at 5.5% and families face soaring fuel bills when the higher energy price cap bites in April.
