Bakers have disagreed with the claim by flour millers that the price of flour has not increased in the last year.
The claim is a result of the announcement by the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria on Thursday that bread prices would be increased by 15 per cent nationwide beginning from July 24.
President of the Premium Bread Makers Association, PBAN, Emmanuel Onuorah, said that since the devaluation of the naira, flour millers had implemented another increase in the price of flour.
This, according to him, increased input costs and worsened the plight of bakers already burdened by macroeconomic challenges, adding that many PBAN members have abandoned bread making due to the numerous challenges in the business environment.
Speaking to The Punch, Onuorah said, “They are gouging price. They just do whatever they want, they were telling us before now that they source their forex from the black market. Now that the government has taken away the official window we have discovered that they were getting forex from the banks.
“They’re going to implement the increase in the price of flour in tranches. They have added N2,000, with the possibility of adding another N3,000. I don’t know when, but that’s their plan. In the last three months, they have added N10,000 to the price of sugar. 150kg bag of sugar has gone up by N10,000.”
He added, “Many of our distributors are using fuel. If they were using N4,000, today if they buy N4,000 fuel it doesn’t go anywhere. So it is affecting distribution. Most of them are leaving this business.”
“We have started doing it individually without necessarily giving any percentage adjustment. If any bakery does not adjust price, they will close down.
“Mind you, PBAN members are not increasing price, but making marginal adjustments to be able to match escalating costs with revenue, which by the way is disproportionate in terms of revenue.”
Alleluia is the Assistant Editor and Content Writer at LagosPost.ng. She is a prolific writer and editor, she has written features and news stories on Lifestyle, Sports, Business, Politics and B2B marketing. She is also an event coordinator, host and social media content creator.
