The National Association of Sachet and Packaged Water Producers claims that if the government does not address the ongoing devaluation of the Cedi, it will be forced to stop producing and distributing water.
They claim that the high cost of energy and the ongoing rise in gasoline prices have a detrimental effect on enterprises.
The Association listed some of its production costs in a news release that was released on Thursday, October 20.
“It is important to note that packaging alone forms about 60% of the production cost for sachet and bottled water.
“Diesel fuel used for distributing the packaged water to market centers for consumers was around 15% of the product cost as of the third quarter of last year.
“Due to the high increase in diesel and other petroleum products, diesel fuel for distributing packaged water to consumer centers now exceeds 25% of the product price.
“Electricity cost which used to be around 15% of the product price has increased to 20% of the product price as a result of the recent increase in utility tariffs.”
It also said that if the situation persisted, its members might have to raise their rates.
It explained that its members couldn’t keep up with the production chain expansions.
“The leadership of the packaged water industry will continue to update the public on the challenges, and if the government did not attend to the call by a week from today, we will have no option but to pass on the cost to the public and possible shutdown of production and distribution for a week across the country.”
