Sachet water price to go up again in June

As Ghanaians prepare for new transport fares to be announced in June following a recent 9% hike in fuel prices, they should also be ready to pay a little higher for sachet water.

Producers of the sachet water popularly referred to as 'pure water' say the cost of production has automatically gone up with the latest upward adjustment in fuel prices, and so the product cannot be sold at the same cost.

The current power crisis they say is also taking a toll on their operations as they spend more on fuel to power their plants for production. It is unclear yet what percentage of increase would be announced as discussions are underway.

But information picked by TV3 indicates that a sachet may sell between 25 and 30 pesewas.

The President of the Sachet and Packaged Water Producers Association, Magnus Nuoo, who confirmed the planned increase to TV3 says considering the prevailing difficult economic conditions, they will not be ''too hard'' on consumers.

"Obviously price changes don't come comfortably to the consumer and moreover everybody falls within that bracket. It's unfortunate, the burden for consumers will go up but as I speak to you now, a few weeks back, I conveyed the product from my factory to the consumer at a cheaper cost than I am doing now because the price of fuel has gone up. The mileage I cover will be the same but the price of fuel has changed. By inference, the cost of distribution has also gone up and this must reflect in the cost of the product".

"It is not our making; it is the economic conditions of the day that is dictating what we are expected to do. We are sorry the consumer may have to tighten up a little bit and bear with us., We are better off recovering and breaking even than collapsing. It's unfortunate and that's why we will not push too hard because we also consume and our families consume as well so we are concerned". ? Last year February, the price of sachet water was increased by nearly 50 percent.

By that increase, consumers were to pay 15 pesewas for a single sachet but that automatically become 20pesewas because of the limited circulation of the 5pesewas coin.

However in most parts of rural Ghana, the product is still sold for 10 pesewas.

Last year's increase among other economic indicators, was also as a result of a 10% environmental tax on plastics introduced by Parliament in 2013.