The sudden and dramatic increase in sugar prices left Ishaq Abdel Rahim with few options. Raising the cost of bread means lower sales, so Nigerian Baker He decided to cut his production in half.
For other struggling bakers in the West African country, this was the latest of many problems they have faced. Many bakers have just closed their shops.
Sugar is needed to make bread, which is the daily food for Nigeria’s 210 million people. For many, bread provides a less expensive source of calories or energy. High sugar prices — a 55 percent increase in two months — mean fewer bakers and less bread.
“The situation is very dangerous,” Abdul Rahim said.
It is increasing all over the world
Sugar is trading at its highest prices since 2011, mainly due to lower supplies around the world.
This increase came in the wake of unusually dry weather that damaged crops in India and Thailand, the world’s second and third largest exporters.
This is just the latest problem facing developing countries already suffering from rice shortages and bans on some food trade. Other factors include the effects of the El Nino weather system and the war in Ukraine. Increasingly, sugar is being used to produce biofuels, all over the world Protectorates Sugar is at its lowest levels since 2009
Brazil is the largest sugar exporter, but its harvest will not help until later in 2024. Until then, sugar-importing countries – like most countries in sub-Saharan Africa – remain vulnerable.
Abu Othman is a merchant in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. He said that a 50-kilogram bag of sugar, which was priced at $66 a week ago, now costs $81. As prices rise, his customers decrease.
Othman said: “The price is rising every day, and we do not know why.”
El Nino
This is partly due to El Niño, a natural event that changes weather around the world and can cause extreme weather conditions such as drought Or floods. Scientists believe that climate change makes the El Nino phenomenon stronger.
India experienced its driest August in more than a century. Crops in the western state of Maharashtra, which account for more than a third of its crops sugar cane Production, did not grow properly.
The Indian Sugar Mills Association said sugar production in India is likely to fall by 8 percent this year. The world’s most populous country is also the largest user of sugar and is now restricting sugar exports.
Naradeep Anantasuk, president of the Thailand Sugar Growers Association, said the El Niño phenomenon has affected the quantity and quality of the crop in Thailand. Only 76 million metric tons of sugarcane is expected to be produced in the 2024 harvest season, compared to 93 million metric tons this year.
Looking ahead, Brazil’s crop is expected to be 20 percent larger than last year, said Kelly Gojari, a senior researcher at Gro Intelligence. But since the country is located in the Southern Hemisphere, the increase in supply will not come until March.
US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data shows the world now has less than 68 days of sugar reserves to meet its needs.
Some countries, including Indonesia and Kenya, have reduced their sugar imports. China was forced to withdraw sugar from its reserves for the first time in six years to compensate for rising prices.
Returning to Nigeria, which has the largest economy in Africa, the struggle of bakers is an example of the effects of rising food prices and fuel costs and the significant impact of rising sugar prices.
Bread is often the only food that poor families have enough money to buy. And when bakers raise bread prices, as they did by 15 percent earlier this year, some people go hungry.
Mansur Umar, president of the Nigerian Bakers Association, said it was not possible not to pass on the high costs.
“There’s no way you can buy high and sell low,” he said.
I’m Jenna Bennett.
Anirudh Ghosal and Chinedu Asadu covered this story for The Associated Press. Edited by Gina Bennett for Voice of America Learning English.
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The words in this story
Baker–n. A person who makes bread for a living
Protectorates–n. Something that is saved for the future
drought–n. A long period of time without enough water
sugar cane–n. Long grass used to produce sugar