The Chairman, Association of Master Bakers, Abia Chapter, Mr Christopher Uba said their recent bread price increase will soon be reviewed upwards.
Uba disclosed this on Thursday in Aba,
The bakers in Abia increased the price of bread on March 23 following hike in price of materials used for baking bread.
Uba said although the price increase in March was the second in four months, they would increase the price again as inflation is taking a toll on the markets.
He said they were forced to increase the price of the staple food because of daily increase in price of materials used in making bread.
“We in Abia increased the price of bread late compared to Anambra which increased theirs before Abia and based on how things are already in the markets.
“We made efforts before increasing the price of bread to make our customers understand that the price of materials for making bread had gone up.
“A bag of flour now is N23, 000 as against N10, 000 / N15, 000 from where it jumped to N21, 000.
“Yesterday, we bought it at N22, 500 and very soon it might hit N25, 000.
The chairman said the bakers were buying a carton of wheat at N2, 500 but now a carton of wheat is sold at N26, 000 and other inputs.
“The price of Sugar is N25, 000 now as against N15, 000 some months ago.
“The price of a carton of butter which we used to buy at the price of N5, 000 before is now sold at N17, 500.
“Before now a 25 litres jerry can of groundnut oil was sold at N15, 000 but now it is sold at N31, 500 to N33, 500,’’ he said.
Uba further said they used to buy a truckload of firewood for N30, 000, adding that now it had gone up to N70, 000 and N80, 000 as the case may be.
The chairman said that they would soon increase the price again to remain in business as the cost of production was going up daily.
Uba said they were experiencing now a reduced demand for bread because most people are no longer willing to buy bread at the new price.
He said that bakers have also cut the rate of bread production to reduce losses arising from reduced demand for bread.
The chairman said that the bakers knowing the importance of bread to Nigerians have tried to reach government to help check rising inflation but failed to get them to act.
Uba appealed to governments at all levels to take actions that would reduce the cost of bread to enable the poor man eat bread.
