Heineken warns of beer price increases as costs bite
Earlier this year, Heineken said it expected soaring costs due to commodity inflation and rising supply chain costs.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Heineken is set to raise its beer prices further as it continues to witness soaring production costs.
It came as the Dutch brewer, which also makes Birra Moretti and Amstel, said it sold more beer than expected over the past three months as drinkers returned to pubs and bars following the removal of pandemic restrictions.
Earlier this year, Heineken said it saw soaring costs due to commodity inflation and rising supply chain costs.
More recently, the war in Ukraine has added another challenge for brewers as grain costs have spiked further.
Looking ahead, we see more macro-economic uncertainty and expect significant additional inflationary headwinds putting further pressure on our cost base
The company said it will look to hike prices in order to keep on top of surging costs, with more “significant headwinds” predicted later this year.
Dolf van den Brink, chairman of the company, said: “Looking ahead, we see more macro-economic uncertainty and expect significant additional inflationary headwinds putting further pressure on our cost base.
“We will take additional actions including pricing to manage these challenges whilst we continue to invest in superior, balanced growth and sustainable value creation.”
The group said net revenues jumped by 24.9% to 5.7 billion euros (£4.7 billion) for the three months to March, as it was boosted by higher pricing.
The company said revenues also benefited from a 5.7% increase in volumes.
Beer sales volumes increased by 5.2% against the same period last year, as the firm reported particularly strong growth in Europe due to the easing of pandemic rules.
Mr Van den Brink added: “We had a solid start to the year, in line with our expectations, especially benefitting from strong channel mix from the partial on-trade recovery of Europe and assertive pricing across all regions.”