Bakers serve another notice of strike 2 weeks after they ended one
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
There is no end in sight to rising bread price with the Premium Bread Makers Association of Nigeria (PBMAN) serving another notice of strike two weeks after one ended in protest against the soaring cost of baking ingredients.
The price of every size of a loaf of bread rose by N50 last week, days after PBMAN the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCN) resumed from the first industrial action.
They stopped baking after Abuja failed to address their plight or heed their warning about strike.
PBMAN President Emmanuel Onuorah complained recent developments in the global market have not translated into a better operating environment for local bakers.
“The price of bread is going up again. The millers just increased prices by N2000. Sugar refiners increased by N2000. We had a N10,000 increase between last week and this week,” he lamented.
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Garbage in, garbage out
“We are increasing prices again. Preservatives increased by N2000, and butter increased by N2000. So, we have to respond.
“For us as an industry, our own is garbage in, garbage out. If the price of wheat comes down today, and the price of fuel comes down, certainly we will look at the price of our products and act accordingly,” Onuorah said, per The PUNCH.
Onuorah urged Abuja to open a foreign exchange (forex) window for industry players, particularly flour millers, to address indiscriminate increases in the price of flour in the market.
“When we went on withdrawal of services, flour was N28,500 [per bag]. Today it is N30,500.”
A baker, Olushola, also moaned about the rapid increase in the price of flour that forces bakers to increase bread price weekly.
“A bag of flour is now N31,000. That was on Friday. Who knows if it has increased again? We have to review prices regularly.
“People don’t want to understand, but we are all in this country and we know what is going on in the economy,” she said.
Ukrainian shipments, a ray of hope
Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Deputy President Gabriel Idahosa expressed hope the price of flour would reduce but warned other elements in the production chain could scuttle any gain.
“Grain prices worldwide have started coming down since the first shipment arrived [from Ukraine]. Wheat prices have come down quite rapidly since the [export] agreement [between Russia and Ukraine] was signed,” he told The PUNCH.
“But that is just the grain. All other products will not come down because the situation in the market has not changed, but the prices of grain and grain-derived products like bread should fall. Bakers should expect cheaper flour.”
