Unilever Israel VP sales Anat Gavriel today tried to defend the company's decision to raise prices for hundreds of items after the holidays, by claiming that prices in Israel were no higher than in other countries.
Yesterday, Unilever Israel published the full list of over 400 products the prices of which will be raised after the holidays.
"The price of corn has risen by 60%, and the price of fuel for industry has also gone up," Gavriel told “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal). "Production costs in Israel for some products are higher. We have five plants in Israel, and we have additional costs, such as VAT, which does not exist in other countries, as well as the issue of kashrut. In the case of an imported product, there are also transportation costs."
Unilever Israel's announcement about the price hikes caused a wave of furious responses. This is the first across-the-board price hike since the start of the social protest, and there is concern that the company has opened the door for other companies to raise prices without hesitation. This concern prompted protest organizations to send a letter to the CEO of Unilever Ltd., calling on him to cancel the planned price hikes in Israel.
The letter says, among other things, that the company's products in Israel are more expensive than in other countries, such as the UK. Protest leader Itzik Alrov claims that the prices of some products are 283% higher in Israel than in the UK. The claim is based on a "Globes" comparative prices investigation published a few weeks ago.
Gavriel rejected the claim. "As for prices in other countries, we're seeing prices rising all over the world," she said, adding, "In many cases, they are comparing a price at a particular place and point of time in another country with a different place and point in time in Israel. On the whole, taking into account discounts and prices, then there are no effective differences in prices between Israel and other countries. When you take the lowest price in the UK and the highest price in Israel, of course there will be differences."
Asked by "IDF Radio" if he would call for a consumer rebellion against Unilever, Alrov said, "All options are on the table. If Unilever decides to raise prices arbitrarily, the Israeli consumer will respond in the same coin."
Gavriel said in response, "An average price rise of 4% is substantially less than the rises we've had to absorb as a company from the rise in inputs prices."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 10, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012