Ice-cream and lolly prices for popular brands like Cornetto and Solero have increased by over 30% in the past two years due to rising costs. According to Which? researchers, supermarket own-brand options are often not only cheaper but also tastier, as demonstrated in their blind taste tests.
A six-pack of Cornetto strawberry ice cream cones saw a 38% price hike from £2.57 to £3.55 between 2022 and 2ayer than similar own-label options available at Asda and Lidl, according to Which? researchers. A comparison was also made with Morrisons' ice cream cones, which scored similarly in the taste test but were cheaper by 21p per cone.
Cornetto Classico strawberry ice cream cones saw a similar increase of 35% in price - from £2.57 to £3.48 during the same period. However, Cornetto ranked lower than other brands in taste tests conducted by Which?, with some testers suggesting it needed to be creamier and sweeter.
The Office for National Statistics indicates that ice-cream producers have faced rising costs on energy, labor, transportation, and ingredients such as milk, cocoa, and sugar over the past two years. This has led to a 27% increase in the average factory gate price of ice cream during this period.
Other brands saw even larger increases: Solero Exotic lollies rose by 35% to £2.75 per pack while Feast chocolate ice-creams went up by 28% to £3.11 per four-pack. Aldi Gianni's Tropico exotic fruit lollies, however, were named as a best buy in Which? taste tests due to their higher score compared to Solero.
While Cornetto and Solero are produced by Unilever, other consumer goods companies like Nestlé also reported price increases: Fab strawberry fruity lollies rose 23% to £2.43 per pack while Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles increased by 22% to the same amount.
Unilever has emphasized their commitment to using high-quality ingredients and offering a range of product sizes for different preferences, needs, and budgets. Meanwhile, Nestlé acknowledges that retail pricing is at the discretion of individual retailers, while Froneri attributes price adjustments to increased production costs and efforts towards efficiency.
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