NDRC to launch another probe into Unilever's price hike

国家发改委再查联合利华涨价

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, said it will launch an investigation into consumer product giant Unilever PLC's price hike, the Beijing Business Today reported Thursday.

Unilever raised prices of a number of its products in China last week, with prices of its Lux and Hazeline line of shampoos and body washes up by 10 percent. The price hikes came just three weeks after it was fined US$2 million by the NDRC for spreading word of possible price increases.

The NDRC has given a great deal of attention to Unilever's price increases and has started a probe into it, said an official with the commission. The NDRC price department has reached out to Unilever and will work to find out if the price hike rumor is true, the official told the newspaper.

Results of the NDRC's investigation will be published soon, said the official.

According to industry data, consumer product companies have seen their costs surge by about 25 percent recently on rising prices of energy, raw materials, transportation, packaging and labor.