McDonald's Raises Prices in China on Higher Costs

McDonald's Corp. (MCD) raised the prices of some of the items on its menu in Chinese stores because of higher costs.

The increase "is because of higher raw material prices and we've adjusted our prices accordingly," Sophia Luan, spokeswoman for McDonald's China, told Dow Jones Newswires.

McDonald's raised the price of items including chicken McNuggets and pies by as much as CNY1 (15 cents) each. The company last raised prices in July.

McDonald's has more than 1,100 stores in mainland China and aims to open as many as 175 more this year.

Chinese inflation hit 4.4% in October, the highest in two years. Policy-makers have raised interest rates and reserve requirements in a bid to control price increases.

McDonald's is also planning to up prices in the U.S. and Europe to deal with higher commodity prices. The company had previously resisted raising prices as it fought for market share.

"The economy will get stronger next year and we'll get price increases," CFO Peter Bensen said, according to Dow Jones. McDonald's didn't disclose details of the plan.