Saudi dairy companies have raised their prices by up to 33 percent, effective Sunday, Jan. 1.

A statement on Almarai Company's official Twitter account attributed the hike to three main reasons. Among them are higher shipping costs, higher costs of ingredients, and higher costs of fodder.

As a result of these factors, the company said production costs increased dramatically in recent years, which was reflected in the price adjustments of a few dairy products.

Prices increased by about 33 percent on some products, as products previously sold at SR1.5 became SR2, and the increases included almost all dairy products.

During the first nine months of 2022, some companies exceeded SR1 billion in profits.

As reported by Okaz/Saudi Gazette, a dairy company listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) earned over SR1.4 billion in profits during the nine months of 2022, with an average daily profit of SR5.2 million. A second listed company gained about SR70.4 million during the same period, with an average daily profit of SR261,000.

Meanwhile, consumers demanded the intervention of the Ministry of Commerce, as it happened 11 years ago when a dairy company raised prices. Upon receiving the demand, the ministry ordered the company to return some of its products to their former selling prices.

After raising the prices of some of its products earlier in the local market, the company did this in light of the stability of the prices of a number of dairy products.

According to the ministry at the time, this was in accordance with the Law of the Commerce Ministry's Jurisdictions, which emphasizes the importance of monitoring markets and sales centers in all regions of the Kingdom in order to prevent price hikes and manipulation.