KUALA LUMPUR – Although flour-miller FFM Bhd has no plans to raise prices for its Cap Sauh and Blue Key flour products, the manufacturer is mulling price hikes for its baked goods under the Massimo brand.
Company group director and chief executive officer Jeremy Goon was quoted as saying by The Edge that there will be a price review and an announcement will be made in the coming few weeks if Massimo product prices are revised.
He added that Massimo prices were revised on January 1 but prices of raw materials had since gone up significantly, which included bakery ingredients.
Massimo product prices were raised 8-10% early this year, but Goon said ingredient prices had shot up between 15% and 40%.
PPB Group Bhd, which has an 80% stake in FFM, yesterday held a media and analyst briefing on its financial results for the first six months of the year.
As for the Cap Sauh and Blue Key products, prices went up about 15% in the first half of the year.
This comes after rival Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd announced a price increase of its products effective September 1. Among the factors were the after-effects of the pandemic, flooding in Shah Alam last December, the global supply chain crisis and the implementation of the minimum wage in May this year.
It added that the costs of high-protein flour had increased by 25%, and egg white powder had more than doubled, alongside wholemeal flour, gluten, skimmed milk, bread improver and packaging materials.
FFM in early August was among five companies – Dindings Poultry Development Centre Sdn Bhd, Gold Coin Feedmills (M) Sdn Bhd, Leong Hup Feedmill Malaysia Sdn Bhd and PK Agro-Industrial Products (M) Sdn Bhd – potentially guilty of violating competitive conduct in the chicken and egg industry.
The Malaysia Competition Commission had issued a statement saying the businesses involved appear to have gone against Section 4 of the Competition Act 2010, giving them 30 days to submit their representations after the proposed decision was delivered to them. – The Vibes, August 31, 2022
