Milk, groceries and healthcare to get costlier:Everyday essentials set to rise in price as West Asia war hits home

Rising tensions in West Asia have increased concerns for companies. The rising prices of crude oil and other raw materials are increasing costs, and companies are considering raising prices. This could lead to price increases in everyday items like bottled water, salt, oil, consumer durables like AC, fridge, and non-surgical medical items. The reason is that this war has broken the backbone of the plastic industry. Raw material prices have increased by 50-70% in the past 30 days. The most commonly used plastic granule LDPE prices have risen from Rs 110/kg to Rs 180. Other polymers and raw materials have also increased by 30,000 to 70,000 rupees per ton. In such a situation, plastic prices may increase by 50-60% in April. Plastic tanks and container prices are expected to rise by 30-40%. All India Plastic Manufacturing Association President Sunil Shah says that 5 lakh people are connected to the plastic industry. If the crisis increases, two to three lakh people could become unemployed. Our demand is that until the situation normalizes, GST on plastic products should be reduced from 18% to 5%. Banks should increase working capital limit by 20%. This will solve the cash flow problem. 20,000 small industries shut down due to LPG crisis The impact has been felt on 50 thousand plastic factories. Most units facing commercial LPG shortage have stopped or reduced production. An estimated 20 thousand factories are expected to close. A Hyderabad EPE manufacturer said, ‘We cannot produce without gas. Forget 80 rupees/kg, it’s not available even at 150.’ More than 40 plants have shut down in Rajkot, Gujarat. Many plants are also closed in Madhya Pradesh, Raipur and Hyderabad. Plastic packaging manufacturers cannot bear margin pressure for long. Many units have cancelled old orders. Surge in demand for ‘Ready to Eat’ products as domestic workers return to big cities

The way of cooking in urban homes is changing due to LPG cylinder shortage and return of migrant domestic workers. The demand for ready-to-eat food items is rapidly increasing on quick commerce platforms. Urban families are now leaning towards low-effort food options. BigBasket’s Chief Merchandising Officer Seshu Kumar Tirumala said that ready-to-eat category sales are 10% higher than normal levels. In the past five days, induction cooktop sales have been 10 times higher than normal. Freshcon India’s co-founder Anupam Boke, a ready-to-eat product manufacturing company, said that consumers and food businesses are now moving towards efficient cooking solutions. Products that reduce cooking time by up to 80% and save 60% gas are seeing heavy interest from distributors and exporters. Meanwhile, according to an Amazon India spokesperson, there has been a ‘significant increase’ in demand for instant noodles, juices, nuts and protein-based snacks. A dedicated ‘Ready to Eat Store’ has also been created for this. Cement prices increased, then increase withdrawn Due to this crisis, prices of petcoke, coal and packaging materials have increased suddenly. This has affected the cement industry. According to Ashutosh Murarka, Equity Research Analyst at Choice Institutional Equities, this geopolitical crisis could increase production costs by 150 to 200 per ton, which will directly impact companies’ profits. Polypropylene used for cement bags is directly linked to crude oil. To compensate for this loss, companies will need to increase prices by 4-5%, but current market conditions do not seem favorable to accept this. In the fourth quarter, companies increased prices by Rs 15-20 per bag, but had to roll back the increase due to excess supply. However, in the north, an increase of Rs 10-15/bag has held steady. What experts say… Current early trends don’t indicate any emergency buying. However, by the fourth week of the West Asian conflict, a significant difference in demand may be visible, as restaurant operations are facing difficulties. Some migrants from the city are returning to their hometowns. Satish Meena, Founder, Datum Intelligence Prices across different categories will increase by 7-10 percent based on raw materials. We intend to run our factories at full capacity until May, but the challenge is how these increased prices will affect demand. Kamal Nandi, Appliances Business Head, Godrej Enterprises Group