Price of Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Bigi, Set to Increase More Than N150 as PET Loses Customers
- Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Bigi are losing customers of PET soft drink after increasing their product price back to the range it was in 2016
- The price of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Bigi is also projected to rise after the raining season as distributors had dropped price to lure traders
- Customers of these Nigerian soft drinks are reducing their demand for PET bottles, and instead purchasing glass soft drinks that cost less
Nigerians might soon start paying more to buy soft drinks of Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Bigi, months after traders increased prices of these brands to N150 per PET bottle.
Factors that will drive prices up in the next half of 2021
Rainy and dry season
In a market survey by Legit.ng, a drink store owner, Tope Afolabi, told this publication that the raining season forced distributors to cut their price as sales dropped during the period.
Afolabi said market was poor for the distributors, but the price will be increased as the dry season approaches. She explained that during the raining season, a pack of PET soft drink is between N1,200 to N1,400.
Source: Getty Images
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The price was fixed at the range to encourage traders to make more purchase, but this price is set to increase according to Afolabi once the rainy season is over.
Nigerian lawmakers and customs
In the last week of August, the Comptroller-general of the Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali told members of the house of representative that the excise duty should be reintroduced on all drinks.
The lawmakers had questioned why soft drinks have no tax, and Ali told them that:
“On several cases, I have made submissions. Mr Chairman is aware that I have been on this battle that we should re-excise the companies that were de-excised in 2019."
The implementation of Ali's excise duty will lead to the increment of soft drink prices by their producers. Note that Afolabi had stated that last year, the price of PET drink pack was around N900 to N1,100.
At the time, the drinks were sold for N100 per PET bottle, but the difference in price in the First Half of 2021 pushed a PET bottle of Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Bigi to N150.
Customers are going back to glass soft drinks
Another trader who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity told Legit.ng that customers have increased their request for soft drink glass following the increase in PET bottle price.
She confirmed Afolabi's statement that PET park is about N1,200 to N1,300. The female trader said this has pushed the demand for plastic bottles down, and the glass version sells faster now.
Legit.ng confirmed that customers will rather spend on N100 on the glass soft drink than pay N150 on the PET bottles. She also confirmed that one of the brands, Bigi, has reduced distribution rate.
Pepsi, Coca-Cola increases price as Bigi distribution drops
It had previously been reported in April that Pepsi and Coca-Cola increased their brands prices after Bigi reportedly cut distribution rate to the market in the First Quarter of 2021.
Pepsi and Coca-Cola increased their price five years after they started selling their plastic products N150 in 2016 during the recession in Nigeria.
Source: Legit.ng
