Tea Sellers Hike Price In Borno

Tea sellers in Maiduguri have increased the price of tea due to the high cost of sugar, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

A survey conducted by NAN in Maiduguri on Monday showed that the price hike ranged from 50 per cent to 100 per cent depending on the status of the tea seller.

While several tea sellers on the roadside have increased their price by 50 per cent, those who engaged in their trade in shops and hawkers have increased theirs by 100 per cent.

For instance, a cup of black tea with milk which sold at N20 last month, is now being sold at between N30 and N40 among roadside sellers.

A cup of green tea with milk is sold at between N50 and N60 against the former price N30 among this category of sellers.

For tea sellers who sell in shops, the price of a small cup of green tea without milk had gone up from N30 to N60, while the cost of a cup of green tea with milk had increased from N40 to N70.

A shot of Gambian tea without milk sold at N60 against the former price of N25 among the shop owners.

Similarly, the price of a shot of green Nigerien tea sold by hawkers, had also increased from N25 to N50.

Some of the sellers, who spoke to NAN, blamed the increase on the rising cost of sugar.

“We have to raise our price to meet up or else we will be out of business because the price of sugar has gone out of reach,” Malam Iliyasu Nura, a roadside seller in Gwange said.

Nura, who claimed to have been selling tea for about 20 years, said he had never witnessed such sharp increase in the price of sugar as the case this year.

“The rising cost of sugar is unimaginable these days. A small measure of sugar which sold at N200 in December now cost between N400 and N450 depending on the seller.

“How do you expect tea sellers to maintain the old price and still record break through,?” he asked.

Malam Ibrahim Shitt, another seller, corroborated Nura’s claim, saying the increase in the cost of tea had led to reduction in patronage.

“Most customers prefer to take either pap or beans cake or other cheap food to survive.

‘We are appealing to the government to do something by regulating the price of sugar because it is an essential commodity,” Shitt said.

Mr. Simon Ali, who owns a tea shop at Borno Express Terminus, said the sale had reduced drastically due to the price hike.

“Most people in the garage now prefer to take solid food in the morning rather than patronise us.

“Even those who regard taking tea as a culture are gradually leaving it,” Ali lamented.

Malam Garba Namiji, a hawker near Monday Market who also lamented the low patronage, urged the government to reduce the high cost of sugar.