CEO: Mondelēz May Need to Raise Product Prices Again

Mondelēz International will likely have to institute another round of product price increases on top of the one it already imposed this month, its CEO says.

Dirk Van de Put told the Wall Street Journal that more price increases will be needed to keep Mondelēz ahead of inflation. The latest round of increases was 6% to 7%, but that will be insufficient to keep up with the company’s increasing expenses, Van de Put said.

Mondelēz’s net revenue for the latest quarter, its fourth fiscal quarter of 2021, were $7.66 billion, a 4.9% increase over the same quarter last year. For the year, net revenue was $28.72 billion, an 8% increase over fiscal 2020. Adjusted gross profit for fiscal 2021 was $11.1 billion, up 5.6% from last year.

Van de Put declined to say how much Mondelēz will ultimately increase prices this year, saying it depends on labor and supply chain disruptions. Mondelēz settled a labor strike last fall that put it behind on order fulfillment and led it to throttle back on marketing for affected brands.