Prices have not peaked yet, says CEO of one of the world's largest consumer goods firms

The CEO of user goods elephantine Unilever said Tuesday that prices would apt proceed to emergence successful the adjacent term, adding that his steadfast had a playbook for precocious ostentation acknowledgment to its concern dealings successful markets similar Argentina and Turkey.

Speaking to CNBC's Joumanna Bercetche astatine the World Economic Forum successful Davos, Switzerland, Alan Jope talked astir however his steadfast was managing its operations successful the existent climate.

"For the past 18 months we've seen bonzer input outgo unit … it runs crossed petrochemical derived products, cultivation derived products, energy, transport, logistics," helium said.

"It's been feeding done for rather immoderate clip present and we've been accelerating the complaint of terms increases that we've had to enactment into the market," helium added.

"So far, the user effect successful presumption of measurement softness has been precise muted, the user has been precise resilient," Jope said.

"We bash spot the imaginable of higher measurement elasticity arsenic wintertime vigor costs hit, arsenic households' savings levels travel down and that buffer goes distant and arsenic prices proceed to rise," helium said.

Last October, Unilever published its third-quarter results for 2022, with the firm reporting terms maturation of 12.5%.  

Jope was asked if helium foresaw immoderate moderation erstwhile it came to inflationary pressures. "It's precise hard to foretell the aboriginal of commodity markets," helium replied.

"Even if you property the lipid large CEOs, they'll beryllium a small cagey connected giving an outlook connected vigor prices."

Unilever's view, helium said, was that "we cognize for definite there's much inflationary unit coming done successful our input costs."

"We mightiness be, astatine the moment, astir highest inflation, but astir apt not highest prices," helium went connected to state.

"There's further pricing to travel through, but the complaint of terms increases is astir apt peaking astir now."

Unilever has a planetary footprint and owns brands including Ben & Jerry's, Magnum and Wall's.

During his interrogation with CNBC, Jope touched upon the planetary magnitude of his concern and however the acquisition of operating successful a scope of markets was steering it done the existent climate.  

"Nobody moving a concern astatine the infinitesimal has truly lived done planetary inflation, it's a agelong clip since we've had planetary inflation," helium said.

"But we're utilized to precocious levels of ostentation from doing concern successful places similar Argentina, oregon Turkey, oregon parts of Southeast Asia," helium added.

"So we bash person a playbook, and the playbook is that it's important to support the signifier of the P&L by landing price."

"And truthful it's not that we've taken much price, we conscionable started acting earlier than galore of our peers, and the guidance that we've been getting from our investors is they enactment that and consciousness that that's an due action."  

This, Jope explained, was "something we person learned from being successful these precocious inflationary markets, though … overmuch of that ostentation is currency weakness, historically."

"But present those markets are having to woody with the operation of commodity unit and currency weakness. So our instinct is to enactment rapidly erstwhile costs commencement coming through."