Campbell does not see price cuts in near term

Campbell Soup President and CEO Douglas Conant speaks during the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago March 16, 2009.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Campbell Soup Co (CPB.N) is not likely to cut prices any time soon, despite a recession that is putting pressure on consumers, the chief executive of the world's largest soup maker said on Monday.

"Quite frankly, sales are growing, our marketplace presence is growing, consumer purchases are actually growing faster than sales, so we're winning with the consumer," CEO Douglas Conant said at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago.

"So it's not likely we're going to be reducing prices in the near-term."

But Conant also said if commodity costs come down, that strategy could change, if the company's margins improve. Like many food companies, Campbell locks in some of its costs through commodity hedges. The company hedged some commodities when prices were at historic highs last year and those hedges run until July, he said.

"As those hedges come off and if our margins start to turn around, then we'll reconsider that, but that's premature to talk about," Conant said about the possibility of lowering prices.

(For summit blog: blogs.reuters.com/summits/)

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman, editing by Matthew Lewis)