By Agnes Afolabi
The Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCON) has raised concern over the rising cost of baking materials in Nigeria, saying, it is raising concern for the industry.
Some members of the Association raised the concern while speaking with the pinpointnews in Abuja.
Ms Peace Izeduwa, Manager, Nextar Bakery located in kubwa FCT, expressed worries over the impact of increasing prices of flour, sugar, yeast, and other materials on the business.
She expressed concern that many bakeries might be forced to close due to increasing cost of production, while soliciting for government intervention to address the issue and safeguard the industry.
She said the recent 15 per cent increase in bread prices due to cost of production had already affected bakeries in the FCT.
This, she said was sequel to the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange window which affected transportation, goods, and services.
“Before now, the price of Mix and Bake Flour was N29,500, but had increased to N33,750, while same apply to other raw materials.
“It is not easy for bakery owners to increase price of bread the way the manufacturers increased the price of raw materials. “
She said that less than a months ago, the price of bread was increased by 15 percent because of the rise in raw materials.
It be recalled that AMBCON had on July 24 announced 15 per cent increase on bread prices from the resolution reached by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the association.
Mr Mansur Umar and Jude Okafor, the National President and National Secretary of AMBCON respectively, said the resolution reached was due to the country’s current economic realities, which negatively impact bakers’ production costs.
The Chairman of FCT Master Bakers, Isaq Abdulrahman, appealed to bakers in the country not to give up, but see how to keep the business going.
“A lot of our members are already loosing hope and confidence, we want government to please look into the sector has its one of the biggest employer of labour,”he said.
Mr Uche Ubani, a baker, said as at August 13, the landing price of prime flour from company was N38,500 while distributors would still add their own price.
According to her, prime flour added N3,000 extra on August 13, a bag of prime flour price in FCT might be between N39,000 and N40, 000, government should at this point come to our rescue to enable us stay in the business.