The National Association of Sachet and Packaged Water Producers has threatened to shut down production and distribution of water if government fails to deal with the free fall of the cedi.

The Association asserts that the continuous increase in fuel prices and high cost of electricity is having a dire impact on the businesses of its members as the cost of production keeps rising.

In a statement sighted by Citi News, the association said: “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.”

“All the above sums up beyond 95% per the last packaged water new prices announced in September 2022 without considering the cost of capital, Salaries, wages, taxes, bank charges, regulatory fees, machine and equipment cost/depreciation/parts replacement, distribution vehicles and its maintenance costs and other overheads.”

The association says its members may be forced to adjust their prices upward if the situation persists.

“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.”