With the new pump price of fuel set at N145/litre small and medium enterprises, SMEs, are now struggling to adjust their businesses in the face of shrinking revenues.
SME Digest findings across the country show that the small businesses are forced to cut the inputs and costs in their businesses as well as increase their product prices.
According to Frank Jacobs, president of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, small scale manufacturers are already used to the price as many of them have always bought fuel at above N145.
Ike Ibeabuchi, managing director of a small scale chemical firm in Lagos, said that small scale businesses are already getting used to buying fuel at above N145, adding that they are now working on reducing their cost elements to remain in business.
Olayinke Onabule, a bread bakery operator, told SME Digest that there association have been meeting on how to forge a collective front in reducing the impact of the high energy cost on their business. He said they may increase their prices after the meeting next week.
However, Greatsheyi Akintunde, chairman of the Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), Ondo State chapter said with the hike in price necessitated by deregulation high production cost could hit several small scale businesses.