EDISON, N.J. — AAK will implement price increases ranging from 3.5% to 7% for all non-contracted truckload business as of Jan. 1, 2015. The per cent changes may vary for business of less than a truckload. The action will mark the company’s first price increase across all its markets since 2009.
AAK, a manufacturer of value-added specialty vegetable-based fats and oils, said costs associated with transporting and converting raw materials have increased substantially. Other areas that have increased in input costs include labor, health care, storage and handling, regulatory and food safety, packaging and waste management.
“The food ingredients industry, like many industries, has experienced increased costs through the recent economic recovery period,” said Terrence Thomas, president of AAK, USA and Canada. “AAK has worked diligently to mitigate these upward pressures through aggressive productivity improvement efforts across all aspects of our business. However, after five years we are no longer able to absorb costs not offset through these efforts.”
