Ogun water producers insist on price hike

Table water producers under the aegis of Association of
Table Waters Producers of Nigeria (ATWAP) in Ogun State have blamed the rising cost of inputs for the new price of N100 per bag of sachet water nationwide.
Ogun State ATWAP Chairman, Mr. Adebayo Jooda, spoke at a meeting of the association’s Obafemi Owode Zone in Ibafo on Friday, where it was agreed that members would embark on a week’s strike to press home the N100 price.
They also agreed to hike a pack of bottled water from N300 to N350.
He said, “Our decision to increase the price from N60 to N100 is now justified because the price has been stagnant over the years while the cost of production has been galloping. For instance, a kilo of nylon which used to sell for N150 now goes for N750. Diesel which used to sell at
22.40k when table water started 20 years ago now sells at N150 per litre. A kilo of packing bag which sold for N750 is now N4,100. Many of our factories are closing down because they cannot meet up with production costs.
“You have to employ about 10 persons and pay them
salaries. For distribution of the product, the trucks which we
bought then at N150,000 now cost N2 million each. How can we cope?”
Jooda also faulted the dominance of the petrochemicals industry by Indians, saying they had kept hiking the prices of items such as polymer rolls and chemicals The chairman said there was no going back on the N100 per bag price, to save producers from shutting down. He also said free extra bags had been abolished nationwide.