The Premium Bread Makers Association of Nigeria, PBAN, has revealed the cause of the growing cost of bread in the country.
The association’s president, Emmanuel Onuorah, during an interview on Arise News’ Global Business Report on Tuesday, said the majority of the ingredients used to produce bread are imported, adding that this has an impact on the cost of bread in Nigeria due to exchange rate volatility.
According to him, the war between Russia and Ukraine has a severe effect on bread manufacturing since Nigeria imports wheat from both of the warring European neighbours.
“Bread is a staple. Bread is supposed to be a pick-and-grab food at any location. It’s on the table for the children.
“Bread is a spiritual product, outside of being physical because it does so much for humanity. As bakers, for us in Nigeria, it’s been tough for us.
“Some of the basic materials we use in producing our bread are imported into Nigeria, that is about almost 98 percent and that’s the truth.”
“In a country, where you almost don’t have a strong productive base, and at that, everything is dependent on the dollar. When the dollar-naira exchange is volatile, when (there is) an FX issue where the naira begins to go down against the dollar, we are in a problem,” he said.