The President of the Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria, Emmanuel Onuorah, has disclosed there will be an increase in bread prices ranging from 15 to 20 percent in Nigeria starting January 2024.
During a Wednesday interview with Channels Television, he linked the anticipated rise in bread prices to mounting production costs attributed to heightened cargo clearance expenses by the Central Bank of Nigeria, ongoing fluctuations in forex rates, and escalating energy costs.
Onuorah emphasized a substantial 70 percent reduction in the production capacity of bread bakers, a consequence of the challenging economic conditions prevalent in the country.
In a plea directed at the government, he urged that the taxes collected from imported wheat should be directed towards nurturing the growth of domestic wheat production and overall sector improvement.
“From January till now, our cost has increased five to tenfold. Our capacity has dropped as much as 70 per cent.
“Bread and flour counts have dropped; those doing 100-200 bags before now struggle with 20-25 bags. All of these are a culmination of no money in people’s pockets; Nigerians are drawn into poverty daily because of the economic vulgarities that we find ourselves in Nigeria. It is a tough time for our members and Nigerians.
“Recently, the cost of importation increased, leading to a 15-20 per cent price increase in bread from January 2024. You cleared imported goods for N850/$1. Suddenly, the Central Bank of Nigeria jerked it up to N950/$1. Yeast, margarine, ascorbic acid, softener, and wheat are not produced in-country.
“We are begging the federal government to ensure that some of the raw materials for bread are domesticated in Nigeria. Let’s use the money collected from the 15 per cent wheat development levy to develop the sector”, he said.
Naija News gathered that the cost of jumbo-sized bread surged from N1,000 in January 2023 to N1,400 in December of the same year.
The rise in the cost of bread production materials, including flavour (increasing from N9,000 in January to N12,000 in December 2023), flour (climbing from N30,000 to N43,000), sugar (jumping from N30,500 to N49,000), and yeast (surging from N23,000 to N44,000), has contributed to this development.
