Abdul Samad Rabiu, Chairman of BUA Foods Plc, has said BUA Foods faced significant challenges maintaining lower prices due to other producers’ actions.
Rabiu accused competitors in the food industry of deliberately creating scarcity to drive up prices.
“When we were at N50,000, the distributors added N20,000 and were selling at N70,000 per bag. At one point, customers were making almost N20 million per truck of 75 tonnes of flour. Yes, it happened,” Rabiu stated.
He emphasized that BUA Foods’ commitment to lower prices was hindered by competitors’ unscrupulous tactics, criticizing the practice of artificially limiting supply to drive up prices.
“BUA products are the cheapest in the market. For instance, a few months ago, the price of flour went as high as N70,000 per bag. We retained ours at N50,000 for quite some time,” Rabiu said.
Rabiu expressed frustration with the industry’s prevailing dynamics, prioritizing short-term profits over consumers’ long-term interests.
He argued that such practices harm consumers and undermine the food industry’s reputation.
To overcome these challenges, Rabiu stated that BUA Foods is expanding operations and increasing production capacity.
He affirmed that by growing market share, BUA Foods will better influence pricing and mitigate scarcity tactics.
Rabiu emphasized the importance of transparency and accountability within the food industry, calling for increased regulation to prevent anti-competitive practices and ensure fair competition.