Morrisons hikes Marmite price by 12.5%

The price of Marmite has increased by 12.5 per cent at the UK supermarket Morrisons.

A 250 gram jar of Marmite will now cost Morrisons’ customers £2.64, according to industry magazine The Grocer.

The price increases is 2.5 per cent more than Unilver – who own Marmite - requested Tesco pay earlier in October, sparking the ‘Marmitegate’ row over the spread.

Three further varieties of the foodstuff have also seen price rises at Morrisons, which is the first supermarket to increase the price of Marmite .

Morrisons said in a statement: "Sometimes we have to increase prices as a result of costs rising although we do our best to avoid this.

"More often than not we have been reducing prices and more than 3,000 products are currently cheaper in our supermarkets than they were last year."

Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch food giant, has raised the price it charges supermarkets for a wide range of brands blaming the slump in the pound.

Sterling has lost nearly 20 per cent of its value against the dollar since the EU referendum on 23 June.

The row between Unilever and Tesco broke out after the supermarket was asked to take on a 10 per cent hike in the price of Marmite, with Unilever halting deliveries to Tesco when it refused, leading to a shortage in some stores.

While that issue has been resolved, British consumers are bracing for price hikes across the board as import costs soar.

On Friday, the owner of British Airways (BA), IAG, warned that ticket prices may have to rise after profits took a hit from the slump in sterling.

Computer giant Microsoft is also hiking prices for British businesses by as much as 22% as a direct result of the collapse in sterling following the EU referendum.

Press Association contributed to this report.