Henkel CEO Carsten Knobel stated that price increases for consumers next year cannot be ruled out. He attributed the potential hikes to rising material costs, speaking to RTL and ntv on Thursday.
The company’s current material prices sit in the high single digits, translating into an additional burden estimated between €400 million and €500 million for the group. To manage this, Henkel plans several countermeasures, including renegotiating pricing with suppliers, implementing necessary price adjustments across the market, and pursuing further cost-saving measures.
In the industrial sector, price adjustments have already taken place. According to the manager, “This is already the case in the adhesive segment; we had to implement price increases with our clients already in the first quarter”.
The situation is more challenging in the consumer goods division, as Knobel noted that the financial situation of many consumers is under significant strain. He acknowledged that consumers are dealing with considerable pressure regarding their incomes. Therefore, Henkel intends to focus on selective price adjustments that are closely associated with introducing innovations to the market.
Despite these plans, Knobel emphasized the inherent uncertainty of the market’s ongoing development, adding that the situation changes weekly and a concrete forecast is currently impossible, as it would be premature to speculate. However, he did caution that should cost pressure persist, consumer-facing price increases will likely be necessary by 2026.
