US: Commodity costs push General Mills to up cereal prices

General Mills, the US food group behind cereal brands Big G and Cheerios, has upped the list price for selected lines due to pressure from higher commodity costs.

Dean Best October 22, 2010

General Mills, the US food group behind cereal brands Big G and Cheerios, has upped the list price for selected lines due to pressure from higher commodity costs.

The company said yesterday (21 October) that it had implemented a “low, single-digit list price increase” on certain lines. The price hike will go live on 15 November.

The products represent about a quarter of General Mills cereal volumes although the company did not specify which brands would be seeing the increase.

“This is the first price increase on many of these brands in three-and-a-half years,” General Mills said. “We have been able to forestall price increases through productivity on these brands for several years, and we will continue to work to do so in the future. But increasing input costs necessitated this change.”