Berger Paints To Again Hike Prices As Input Costs Soar
Berger Paints is set to again hike prices across its portfolio.
Berger Paints India Ltd. is set to again increase prices across its portfolio as it continues to fight rising cost of raw materials and energy, according to dealers and brokerages.
The paintmaker will raise prices for consumers by 4-5% from early December, dealers told BloombergQuint on the condition of anonymity out of business concerns.
Edelweiss corroborated. “After Asian Paints Ltd., Berger, too, takes a hike of 5% from early December. The paints sector in India has very high pricing power and it’s good to see companies go for a healthy balance of volume and margin,” the brokerage said.
While Berger confirmed to BloombergQuint that the hikes will be effective Dec. 5, it didn't disclose the quantum.
This comes a month after the company raised prices by a record 10%, taking the cumulative hikes taken in the last few months to 19%.
After the second quarter, Abhijit Roy, managing director at Berger, had said price hikes were inevitable and most of its peers have plans to increase the price to protect margins.
Last week, Asian Paints Ltd. announced a price hike of 4-6% starting Dec. 5. That had pushed up its stock price. After the second quarter, the nation’s largest paintmaker had indicated that high raw material inflation would accelerate price hikes.
“Inflation is at unprecedented levels. We haven’t seen this kind of an inflation in material prices at least in the last 40 years,” Amit Syngle, managing director and chief executive at Asian Paints, had said.