New Delhi: Consumers may have to pay more for their daily essential items with FMCG companies mulling another round of price hikes to offset the impact of an unprecedented level of inflation on commodity prices such as wheat, palm oil, and packaging materials

Besides, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has also added another blow to FMCG makers as they expect a rise in the prices of wheat, edible oil, and crude.

Companies such as Dabur and Parle are watching the situation and will undertake calibrated price increases to mitigate the inflationary pressure.

According to some media reports, makers such as HUL and Nestle have increased the prices of food products last week

We are expecting a 10-15 percent hike by the industry," Parle Products Senior Category Head Mayank Shah told PTI.

Shah further noted that the prices are witnessing high fluctuation and hence it would be difficult to tell about the exact increase due to volatility of the price.

The price of palm oil had increased to Rs 180 per litre and now has come down to Rs 150 per litre. Similarly, crude oil prices had risen to nearly USD 140 a barrel and have now slipped below USD 100 per barrel, he added.

"However, it is still higher than what it was earlier," Shah said, adding that the companies are also hesitant in taking price increases significantly because demand was reviving after COVID and they do not want to tinker with that. Last time, the makers did not take the price hike to completely mitigate the impact and had absorbed some part of that.

"Everybody is currently talking about a price hike of 10 15 percent, although the input cost has gone much more than that," he said.

When asked as to whether Parle would also go for a hike, Shah said right now it has enough stock of packaging materials and other stocks and would take a decision after a month or two on this.

Expressing similar thoughts, Dabur India Chief Financial Officer Ankush Jain said inflation remains unabated and is a cause of concern for the second year in a row.

PTI