During the quarter, raw material costs for the company were up by 7.8% from a year ago, driven by high inflation in the cost of wheat, palm oil, cocoa and sugar. The input cost as a proportion of revenue rose to 59.8% of sales compared with 57.9% a year ago. This directly impacted profitability, as the operating profit margin dropped by 280 basis points (bps) to 15.5%.
