The association of master bakers and caterers in Abuja on Monday said it was planning to increase the price of bread by 30 per cent due to the high cost of raw materials for production.

The association says the hike was necessary in order to avoid the shutdown of bakeries.

Ishaq Abdulkareem, chairman of the association, said the prices of all ingredients used for baking were too high, especially flour and sugar.

He also appealed to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to reduce the cost of business registration. 

“We want to appeal to NAFDAC, they are our regulatory agency, the current cost they are demanding for registration is not part of ease of doing business.

“We were paying N32,500 for registration before, and now it  is about N90,000,” Abdulkareem said.

Maria Cardillo, CEO Bon Bread, said there was a need for an increase in the price of bread to avoid collapse of the bread business due to factors beyond the association’ control. 

“The 30 per cent has not been effected before and price needs to be increased again because we have had an increase in prices of raw materials and we don’t have alternatives. 

“For every N500 added on every cost of raw materials, it will affect our cost of production,” Ms Cardillo said.

She said the sector was faced with a series of challenges that needed urgent attention to avoid collapse. 

Peace Izeduwa, Manager, Nextar Bakery, also confirmed that the prices of raw materials were outrageous and were affecting the cost of bread.

Ms Izeduwa urged the federal government to look into it and regulate the prices of material used in bread production adding that the 30 per cent planned increment was not even enough.

“The 30 per cent we are trying to add on it, it’s not like it is going to take care of all our profit. Even with the increment of 30 per cent, we still are running at a loss. 

“Milk is now N54,000 as against N34,000 that we were complaining of; sugar used to be N18,000, it is now N20,000 

‘’Butter used to be N9,000. Now we buy the same butter for N14,000 to N15,000. 

‘’We have other issues such as the high cost of power. Last month, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company gave us a bill of N955,300, almost a million yet, power is not stable.

‘’We still run on the generator, water is not free.

“We need the government to look into these issues and help us regulate the price of all the raw materials we are using in the bread industry and other industries,” she said.