One of Nigeria’s major brewers, International Breweries (IB) Plc, has announced another increase in the prices of its products, from June 1, 2024. This latest increase in the price of beer and other Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) is the third time this year, in the face of rising hardship fuelled by skyrocketing inflation.
Nigeria’s inflation stands at 33.69 per cent from 33.20 per cent, according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS). However, real sector players are responding to this, by raising the price of goods and products.
Releasing the new prices, at the weekend, IB directed all its trade partners to comply with the price adjustments from next month. The memo signed by the company’s Head of Sales (East), Olaleye Abimbola, cited current market realities, mostly inflationary pressures, as the reason for the review.
Entitled, ‘Price Review Notification,’ the memo quoted Abimbola as saying, “This is to notify you, our valued business partner, that we are reviewing prices in our portfolio due to the current market realities, as we work to enhance our pricing models that ensure you are best served by us.”
To this end, the review in prices of our selected SKUs will take effect on June 1.
“We are confident that this decision will prove beneficial to all our business partners. Similarly, we urge you to honour the same pricing strategy we had in the previous months until these changes are announced and implemented. Thank you for your attention.”
However, the new price adjustment has not gone down very well with the distributors, who cite limited funds. They, as well as the company’s trade partners, say the new interest rate of 22.5 per cent and Cash Ratio Rate (CRR) may scuttle their plans of approaching local banks for credit to adjust to the new prices next month.
