From bread to biscuits, high wheat prices put FMCG companies in a fix. Can they afford to raise prices?

Major fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies have been battling a shrink in urban consumption — which accounts for over 60% of the FMCG sector’s sales — for a while. Now, they are seeing more trouble as prices of wheat, a key input for many products, remain elevated for a year.Many companies have posted a fall in margins for the July-September quarter of FY25. To safeguard margins, HUL, Marico, Tata Consumer Products, Dabur, and some others