Between 35 and 40 percent of bakeries operating in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial city, have shutdown production of breads in the past one year, because of rising cost of production, the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers has revealed
Vice President of the association in Lagos ,Mr. Raji Omotunde who disclosed this , warned that more bakeries would be forced to close down, if the spate of increasing prices of baking incredients continue unabated
He attributed the situation to depreciation of naira to dollar, saying most of the baking incredients including wheats and sugar are imported into the country
Omotunde also criticized flour millers for exploiting the naira’s depreciation to continually raise prices.
The National Bureau of Statistics ( NBS) data indicate that bread prices have risen by nearly 100% year-on-year, yet this has not sufficed to offset the increased costs of inputs, leaving many bakery managers reporting that they are no longer making profits.
Any further increase by the bakers could significantly reduce demand, since bread competes with other staples such as yam and plantain in Nigeria
A piece of bread sold at Kubwa, Abuja, sold for N700 in May 2023 has had its price increased to N1,100 in May 2024, representing 58 percent increase.
Also piece of jumbo bread sold for N1,500 at Lagos stalls in 2023 are now sold for N2,500, indicating a 67% jump in price of the product
Similarly in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital the smallest size of loaf goes for between N250 and N300 while medium size is now sold between N350 and N450
The situation has forced some of bakers to venture into production of water ,since the business is longer profitable for them
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