Nigerian Breweries to increase prices of products as rising input cost threatens operations

The Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc has announced an upward review in the prices of some products in its stock-keeping units (SKUs) to “mitigate the impact of the rising cost of input”.

The company, in a memo to customers, said the price adjustments would take effect from August 10, 2023.

SKU is a unique identifier used to track inventory within a business. The Nigerian Breweries is the producer of major alcoholic products like Star Lager, Gulder, Legend Extra Stout, Heineken, Goldberg, Life, Star Radler amongst others.

Some alcohol-free drinks under the company include Maltina, Amstel Malta, Fayrouz, Climax Energy drink, and Malta Gold.

In the memo, the brewer did not state which of its brand will be affected by the price increase.

“In appreciation of our great partnership and your commitment, we will deliver at current prices all open orders that are fully funded and created in our system before 00.00hr on Thursday 10th August, 2023,” the document reads. 

“While thanking you for your commitment to our great partnership, be rest assured that we will continue to support your sales and distribution efforts as always.”

With Nigeria’s inflation at 22.7 percent, coupled with the decision of the federal government to raise the excise duty rate on beer and stout by 87.50 percent, the price hike by the Nigerian Breweries would further put pressure on the pockets of consumers.

Speaking with TheCable, Sade Morgan, the corporate affairs director of Nigerian Breweries, said the price adjustment aims to sustain standard business practices with its trade partners.

“We would like to use this opportunity, to clarify, that this is a moderate price adjustment planned on some of the SKUs of our brands, due to continued rise in input cost,” Morgan said.

“Nigerian Breweries would like to assure all stakeholders of our unwavering commitment to excellent customer service delivery and consumer satisfaction.”

The board of directors of the company recently posted a revenue of N277 billion for the half-year (six months) ended June 30, 2023.

The half-year result marks a journey to recovery from the poor performance recorded in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, when it made a loss of N10.7 billion, while revenue declined by 10.5 percent from N137.7 billion recorded in Q1 2022, to N123.3 billion in the first three months of 2023.

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But Nigeria Breweries is not the only brewer feeling the pinch of the country’s harsh economic environment.

Earlier in May, Guinness Nigeria, a major beer producer, implemented a price increase on all its products.

In a statement seen by TheCable, the company’s management said the decision followed “the recent industry developments and the prevailing economic realities which have impacted significantly on our current cost of doing business”.

“Kindly take this as a formal notification that we plan to take a price increase across all our portfolio,” Guinness Nigeria had said.

“This imminent price increases will be implemented in May/June 2023 and further details including the go–live date and actual increments will be communicated shortly.