The manufacturer of brands such as Hobnobs, Jaffa Cakes and Penguins has said that the increasing costs of labour, raw ingredients and staff absences could see biscuit prices soar.

McVities’ parent company Pladis Global claimed that it had seen double-digit percentage hikes for ingredients such as cocoa beans, with higher wheat prices also contributing to the problem.

Pladis UK managing director David Murray told the Daily Mail: “Omicron disruption, absenteeism and the rising cost of business going forward present a big challenge for us. At the end of the day, like in many other categories, it will flow through to higher prices. I’ve never seen a combination of challenges like this at the same time.”

Murray said that the situation was “testing our resilience” and that the company is in negotiations with supermarkets about the level of price rises. He confirmed that increases could be around the current level of inflation – 5.1% – but that the popular chocolate digestive “will still be very affordable”.