Food manufacturing giants Universal Robina Corp. (URC) and Monde Nissin Corp. are bracing for higher input costs that could squeeze margins in the coming quarters.
URC president and chief executive Irwin Lee said during the annual stockholders’ meeting the company expects input cost to double this year to P12 billion from P6 billion a year ago due to rising commodity prices and logistics problem.
Because of the development, Lee said company’s profitability in the next quarters would continue to the choppy as higher input costs could reduce margins.
To mitigate the impact of rising commodity prices and other cost pressures, Lee said URC would announce significant price increases in the second quarter across key categories.
Monde Nissin is also carefully evaluating if it will implement a third round of price increases. The company in January implemented a three- to four-percent price increase across brands and another five- to eight-percent in April.