Bakers warn bread price will rise on higher costs of transport and condiments
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Two years before Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, food prices were already rising from April 2020 as policemen demanded bribe to allow food trucks pass through check points in the pandemic lockdown even though Abuja exempted them.
Bribes paid by drivers and food marketers to policemen raised costs that were passed on to consumers in higher prices. These incidents were and are still being widely reported in the media. Muhammadu Buhari has done nothing to stop the extortion.
The price of cooking gas refill began to climb from December 2020 and has since more than doubled to add pressure to food inflation.
Another combination of worsening insecurity, fuel price hikes, the war in Ukraine, and the collapse of Nigeria’s national grid has further stoked costs with multiplier effects on all goods and services.
Now, the Premium Bread-Makers Association of Nigeria (PBMA) has warned that
the price of bread will rise 50 per cent or more across all sizes in April due to pressing challenges facing bakers.
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PBMA said the harsh business environment, which has forced several bakers to shut down operations, will raise the price of bread which will cripple the bakery business.
“Companies are shutting down their businesses as a result of the increase in the price of diesel. Some of my members shut down again this week. So many other companies are closing down,” PBMA President Emmanuel Onuorah lamented.
“There will be a scarcity of wheat [in April] and the millers will raise their prices to N30,000 or N40,000 and that will affect the cost of bread across board by 50 per cent or more.
“As we speak, operators in the sachet water business segment are on strike.
“They’ll likely increase the price of sachet water to N25 or N30. We don’t even know where this thing is tending towards. Bigger companies are closing because of operating costs. Businesses are going under.
“Hospitals now have to ration diesel. Energy is the key. We understand that [from 14 April], there will be a scarcity of wheat and the millers will raise their prices to N30,000 or N40,000.
“People are bending backwards to see what they can do. Things such as reducing the sizes of their bread or cutting down on the weight. This is so that we can just maintain what are we doing.”
Escalating costs
There were clear signs in February that the price of bread would rise due escalating cost of flour and other baking materials, high energy cost, multiple taxation, and other factors.
A market survey conducted by Nairametrics in Lagos and Ogun showed that the cost of baking flour had risen in most major markets.
The price of 50kg of flour, the major ingredient for making bread and other pastries, which cost N6,200 in December 2021 rose to N6,600 in February 2022.
Bakers in both states lamented that the 5.5 per cent increase since January had drastically reduced their profit margin and would likely lead to a rise in the price of bread, cake, and other wheat by-products.
Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCN) Ojodu Zone Chairman Adediran Bakare said major flour mills announced in December 2021 the upward review of the prices which caught bakers unawares.