CHOCOLATE giant Mars has been accused of living on another planet – after hiking the price of its much-loved Galaxy bars by up to 100 per cent at supermarkets.
Fans of its ‘Smooth Milk’ chocolate have been shocked after a 110g sized bar has rocketed 51% from 99p to £1.50 in Tesco.
Louis WoodGalaxy bars have been hiked in price at major supermarkets[/caption]
In Sainsbury’s, a Galaxy bar with exactly the same ingredients and same size but listed as “Vegetarian” costs £2 – a 102% increase from its previous price.
Former fan Dennis Rigglesford told The Sun: “We are all being taken for a ride on price increases across the board.
“It’s always been 99p, I’d be interested to learn of the manufacturers’ excuse for such an unexplained jump.”
Food companies are coming under increasing scrutiny for using inflationary pressures as an excuse for ripping customers off.
The hike by Mars is at least five times the rate of general inflation in the UK.
A Mars Wrigley spokesman said: “The inflationary pressures being felt around the globe are well documented and sadly we are not immune to them.
“We continue to absorb substantial cost increases coming from raw materials and regrettably we have had to make the difficult decision to make some list price adjustments.
“At Mars Wrigley we will always offer our products at the best possible value for money, it’s something that we won’t compromise on, and we’re doubling down on that commitment in these challenging times.”
The likes of Mars, Unilever, Cadbury and Nestle have all blamed rising cost pressures from increased energy, fuel, transport and ingredient costs for rising prices.
However, even the Bank of England and the European Central Bank have warned about the risk of “greed-flation” from big businesses, making life more painful for the everyday shopper.
The ECB said this week that “many firms have been able to raise their profit margins in sectors”.
Last week it emerged that Cadbury had cut the size of its Dairy Milk sharing bar and bags of its buttons by almost a quarter, while keeping prices the same.
It comes after the company shrank the size of its chocolate Easter eggs too, as was first revealed by The Sun.
Cadbury isn’t the only company to shrink the size of its products to keep up with rising manufacturing costs.
Pouches of popular supermarket item Ben’s original rice have shrunk from 250g to 220g in recent months.
Unilever is now also selling three Magnum ice creams for the same price as it used to sell four.
Other products including beer have shrunk in size in recent months without a change in price either.
So-called “shrinkflation” has been one of the biggest trends in the past year, meaning consumers get less for their money.