West Asia crisis: Berger Paints to hike premium, mass segment prices up to 10%

West Asia conflict, even as it looks to turn the disruption into an opportunity to gain market share.“In order to fully neutralize the impact of raw material price increase, we have to increase the prices of our products,” said Abhijit Roy, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), in an interview with Mint. “The price increases have happened in the mass premium and luxury segment… the economy segment has been left untouched so far.”The hikes follow a sharp rise in crude oil prices, a key driver of paint raw material costs.

Roy said. The benchmark Brent crude traded around $98.15 a barrel on Tuesday, and has surged as much as 32% since the war started.Berger, India's second-largest paint maker, will implement the increases gradually: 1.5% from 25 March, 2–2.5% on 30 March, and 4–4.5% on 9 April, when the economy segment will also see hikes.“All competitors have no choice…everyone has declared price increases,” said the chief executive.Berger’s move follows similar actions by rivals such as Asian Paints and JSW Dulux, erstwhile Akzo Nobel India, which sells paints under the Dulux brand, all of whom have announced hikes in the last few days, he added.“The announcement of a price increase could lead to some stocking by dealers which may shore up volumes in the short term and lead to brief market share gains.

But, the current round of price hikes are more to do with passing on raw material cost increase. It is unlikely to cause any significant long to mid term market share gain for Berger,” said Amit Purohit, senior vice president, Elara Securities.Purohit added that the raw material spread will determine whether the hikes cover cost increases.