Toy maker Mattel warns of price rise ahead of Christmas

TOY giant Mattel said it has to increase product prices ahead of Christmas due to a steep rise in costs of raw materials and shipping.

"We will be looking at increasing prices in the second half of [the] year," Mattel's chief executive Ynon Kreiz told the BBC.

"We haven't broken out [which products will be affected], but this is in response to some of the inflationary pressures," he added.

The move is seen important as Mattel is recovering from the impact of Covid that led to closure of shops and disruption of supply chains.

Meanwhile, the maker of Barbie dolls announced better than expected sales of more than $1 billion (£720 million).

Kreiz emphasised that Mattel is not the only toy maker to increase prices.

On Tuesday (27), the company reported an on-year rise of 40 per cent in its net sales in the second quarter to $1.03bn (£742m), backed by rise in billings for Barbie, the company's biggest brand.

Companies in several industries worldwide faced disruption in operations because of delay in shipping and hurdles in getting goods delivered through ports during the pandemic.

However, Kreiz was able to manage these disruptions due to the scale of Mattel business.

"We were able to leverage our size and partnerships that we have with our vendors and retail partners and mitigate some of these issues, so we did not have any impact on our business in the second quarter," he said.

In recent years Mattel has made Barbie more diverse, with dolls based on different role models and professions.

Earlier this month, it launched a Barbie doll based on tennis superstar Naomi Osaka.

Besides Barbie, the company’s revenues were also boosted by increase in billings for the Hot Wheels, Mattel’s toy car brand.

The company expects to maintain its brand popularity this year with Barbie content on Netflix, an upcoming movie starring Margot Robbie and a new video game based on Hot Wheels.