Price of toys soars on China growth

The retail price of toys has risen sharply this year, as retailers pass on to customers soaring costs coming out of China. Gary Grant, chairman of the Toy Retailers Association and founder of retailer The Entertainer, said: "In some cases, we have [seen] a 10 per cent increase in retail prices."

His comments will fuel the growing view that spiralling inflation in China will lead many UK retailers to ramp up store prices over the next 12 months, piling the pressure on consumers. Mr Grant said UK toy suppliers had taken the unprecedented step of increasing prices mid-year. Typically, the prices agreed the previous year between toy retailers and suppliers do not change after January but this year suppliers have initiated a second round of increases from June. Mr Grant said: "This is the first time in more than 20 years that we [retailers] have had a price increase mid-year from UK supp-liers who source from China."

He said the significant price pressures faced by UK toy suppliers are being driven by rising labour costs in China and the spike in the cost of raw materials.