LONDON Nestle posted lower-than-expected nine-month sales growth on Thursday as higher product prices made shoppers balk and hurt volumes.

Organic sales, which exclude the impact of currency movement and acquisitions, rose 7.8% in the nine months ended September, the maker of Maggi stock cubes and Nescafe coffee said.

Analysts had on average expected organic sales growth of 8.1%.

(Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Christopher Cushing)