It is in the interest of producers of sachet and packaged water to effect the upward price adjustment of products, says the producer association in Ashanti region.

The National Association of Sachet and Packaged Water Producers announced a 30 percent increase in prices of the commodity, effective October 1, 2013. The price of a sachet of ‘pure water’ is selling at 15pesewas from the previous 10 pesewas, whilst a bag of sachet water has been increase from Gh¢1.50p to Gh¢1.80p.

In the Ashanti region, the price change, which is in response to hikes in utility bills and rising cost of raw materials, takes effect from Monday, October 7.

Ashanti Regional Secretary of the Association, Kofi Antwi-Adjei, tells Luv Biz Report producers risk running into production difficulties if they fail to comply with the price adjustment.

In times past, some producers have been reluctant to implement new prices for the commodity. The situation, which the industry players described as ‘price undercutting’ has been beneficial to retailers at the expense of producers. According to Mr, Antwi-Adjei, the poor and unhealthy pricing regime has led to the collapse of companies at an alarming rate.

“When the costing was done and prices came up and people decided not to obey that, they were hugely affected. So I’m sure having learnt these lessons and the experience gathered so far, members will now comply and make sure that they stay in business”, he stated.

Mr. Antwi-Adjei says the Association is also protecting consumer interest in the production of high quality water.

An industry taskforce has been instituted to augment the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to monitor production standards of members. There are over 800 firms presently producing sachet water in the Ashanti region.