Nigerians will pay more for bread in the coming days as bakers announce intention to hike prices.

The increase is to cover the high cost of ingredients according to the president of Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria (PBAN), Engr. Emmanuel Onuorah.

Bread is a major food item on the table of most Nigerians.

According to the bread makers, the cost of production has risen following the withdrawal of fuel subsidy and the liberalization of the foreign exchange (forex) market by the federal government.

“For us in the premium bread making, it is a mixed feeling laced with a feeling of déjà vu”, Onuorah said.

Going further, he revealed that most of the baking ingredients are import dependent.

“Most of our baking ingredients are import dependent; ranging from flour produced from wheat, Ascorbic Acid, Calcium Propionate, Yeast, bread softener etc, are mostly imported. The forex floating led to increase in amount used for clearing; we know this will certainly lead to increase in prices of bread,” he said.

“The flour millers even wanted to use the forex floating as an alibi to increase the price of wheat flour; if they do that the price of bread would go up significantly because we would pass on the cost. With any increase in the price of bread now, there will certainly be more drops in sales and more bakeries will certainly close shop.”

Going further, he lamented the impact of fuel subsidy removal on the bread making business.

“The impact on my members was spontaneous because our workers were not able to afford the transport fare that spiked astronomically thereby impeding production due to unavailability of workers,” he added.

Onuorah also disclosed that the imposition of 7.5 percent Value Added Tax on diesel by the federal government has affected production and sales negatively.