Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola has followed its rival Pepsi by raising the price of a can of cola by 50 percent in Saudi Arabia.
The price of a can of Coke now costs SR1.50, up from SR1 – exactly the same price hike Pepsi brought in almost a week ago.
“We have raised our prices because we can no longer afford to shoulder the increasing cost of ingredients and raw materials,” Sami Kobe, pre-sales manager at Coca-Cola Bottling Company’s Riyadh office, told Arab News.
“The prices of ingredients including sugar and packaging materials such as plastic and glass have risen dramatically over the past year. This is why we can no longer keep the price at SR1,” he said.
However, Kobe admitted that Pepsi’s decision to raise prices had forced them to match it.
“The leader in the kingdom in terms of soft drink sales is Pepsi so when the leader makes a change, all of its competitors should change as well to keep the market competitive,”
Pepsi said the rising cost of raw materials had forced it to raise its prices for in the kingdom for the first time in 30 years.
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