Morrisons hikes the price of Marmite by 12.5 per cent … and it’s not the only Unilever product
Price rise comes after Tesco's spat with the manufacturer when it threatened to PULL products from shelves
MORRISONS has become the first supermarket in the UK to hike the price of Marmite -- just days after makers Unilever rowed with Tesco over post-Brexit cost increases.
The price of the 'Love it or Hate it' spread has jumped to £2.64 per 250g pot -- a rise of 12.5 per cent.
The increase is MORE than the 10 per cent blanket price rise manufacturer Unilever demanded Tesco put on its products.
Tesco threatened to pull all Unilever products from its shelves over the spat, which was dubbed 'Marmitegate'.
In contrast Asda has cut the price of Marmite to £2, Tesco and Waitrose have kept it steady at £2.35, while Sainsbury's price of £2.50 remains unchanged, said magazine.
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A spokesman for Morrisons said: "Sometimes we have to increase prices as a result of rising costs, though we do our best to avoid this.
"More often than not we have been reducing prices.
"More than 3,000 products are currently cheaper in Morrisons than they were last year."
Marmite is not the only Unilever product to have seen a price rise at Morrisons.
In the past fortnight, 92 of the 228 Unilever food items stocked at Morrisons have increased in price, compared with just 19 price reductions on food, analysts said.
Household products like Knorr seasoning, Hellmanns sauce and Pot Noodles have seen price hikes.
What other Unilver products have gone up in price at Morrisons?
Knorr Aromat Savoury Seasoning - 90g up 12p to £1.12
Bertolli with Butter Spread 400g - up 32p to £2.06
Hellmanns American Smokey BBQ sauce 200ml - up 40p to £2.08
Wall's Cornetto Classico 4 x 90ml - up 17p to £2.14
Coleman's English Mustard 170g - up 15p to £1.56
Magnum Mini Double Ice Cream Peanut Butter 6 x 60ml - up 36p to £4.23
Pot Noodle Original Curry 90g - up 12p to £1.12
Knorr Beef Stock Cubes 200g - up 33p to £3.29
The average price rise is 9p or 5.4 per cent to £1.77.
When it comes to non-food items, 93 have fallen in price, with 83 rising. This has resulted in a 25p or seven per cent reduction in the average price to £3.12.
Morrisons is not the only supermarket to put up the price of Unilever products.
Tesco and Asda have both put up prices on 155 Unilever-produced items.
Adam Leyland, editor of The Grocer, warned it wouldn't just be at Morrisons that Unilever product prices will rise.
"Yes, it looks like they've blinked first. And Tesco can rightly point out that in its case, all price rises relate to items that have come off promotion.
"But the thing to watch is whether we will see fewer or less generous promos on Unilever lines in the coming months", he said.
"That way Tesco could indeed claim no price hikes... but year-on-year consumers will actually pay more".
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