Marico better placed than peers on costs amid commodity surge

Lower copra costs and price cuts to aid volumes and margins

The stock of consumer major Marico has been an outperformer over the past month, shedding about 3 per cent as compared to its peer index BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) which has lost twice as much. While all FMCG companies will be impacted by the rise in commodity costs, the impact on the owner of Parachute and Saffola is expected to be lower.

This is on account of fall in its core input costs as compared to the commodity basket of other FMCG majors. The prices of copra, which  is used in making coconut oil based hair oils, is