• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Bayelsa bakers strike over rising cost of flour

Bakers threaten to halt services in March over unmet demands

Bakers across Bayelsa State have embarked on a strike to protest the rising cost of flour, saying they can no longer sustain the current prices.

The strike which commenced last weekend has resulted in high prices of baked products such as bread, cake, doughnuts, buns and the locally produced ‘madiga’.

With baked products becoming scarcer by the day, prices have increased between 10 and 20 percent, but could still rise as bakers get set to meet to agree on a new price regime.

The smallest bread that sold for N50 is now selling for N60 or N70, BusinessDay checks have revealed, adding to the burden of high cost of other food products in the state.

Read Also: Northern Nigeria flour mills sees first nine-month profit in five years

Price of garri rose by 20 percent, but has come down to 10 percent, while that of beans has continued to increase over the past few weeks.

With the situation as it is, many families are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet in the face of worsening economic conditions across the nation.

Within the past few days, operators of tricycles have also decided that passengers would now have to pay N50 for distances they usually paid N30.

At the popular Swali Ultra Modern Market in Yenagoa, BusinessDay gathered that some traders no longer sell some food items due to the increasing costs.

John Agberio, who sells foodstuff, lamented that the situation meant that traders could no longer buy some items for sale due to meagre funds.