Britain's Royal Mail to increase stamp prices again

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Britain's Royal Mail (LSE: RMG.L - news) postal service said on Friday stamp prices would rise from March 30 as it tries to offset the impact of a steadily falling number of letters to deliver each year.

Royal Mail said the price of first and second class stamps would both increase by 1 pence to 63p and 54p respectively.

The increase comes after a 2p rise for first class stamps and a 3p rise for second class stamps last year.

Royal Mail, whose shares rocketed in the wake of their 2013 privatisation, also said on Friday large letter first class stamps up to 100 grammes would rise by 2p to 95p with the equivalent second class stamp going up 1p to 74p.

The company said second class medium parcel prices would fall, however, while second class small parcel prices would stay at a cheaper rate used during a Christmas promotion.

Royal Mail has seen letter volumes fall steadily in recent years and forecasts further drops of 4-6 percent per year as more people use email and social media instead.

The trend has pushed the company to modernise its operations in order to better compete in a growing parcels market. (Reporting by Neil Maidment and Mark Potter)