The depreciation of the Nigerian naira against the American dollar has caused prices of cow skin, locally known as ponmo, to skyrocket in Nigeria, leaving traders dissatisfied.
Bureau De Change operators in Lagos State disclosed that the naira hit a record low on the black market after the local currency closed trading on Thursday at N718/$1 compared to N700/$ recorded on Wednesday
A young entrepreneur in the cow-skin business and Chief Executive Officer of Hardukeh Enterprises, Mrs. Tolulope Alli, revealed that most of the materials used in processing the skins into finished goods, especially the oil used in frying, gas, transportation, and others have skyrocketed.
In an exclusive interview with NewsAfricaNow, Alli revealed she was forced to stop buying cow skin from the north due to higher quality demands from its customers, adding that this has made her buy her cow skins from Tanzania in the East Africa region.
She said: “Hike in the price of the cow skins, the oil used in frying, gas, washing, and cleaning and transportation, etc has affected the business. I stopped getting my skins from the north in January, I get them directly from Tanzania and then we process them with the extraction.
The CEO, however, appealed to her customers in a terse statement posted on her WhatsApp status that there is going to be a price increase in all of its goods starting from the 2nd of August 2022, stressing that customers can key into the old price by making their orders before the increment commences next week Tuesday.
“Good morning to every of our esteemed customers, thanks for always patronizing us, this is just a short notice to inform you all that our prices would be changing starting from the 2nd of August due to the scarcity and the high price of cow skin coupled with an increase in transportation and other materials, etc.
“We are still going to sell out between now and Monday using our old price list, new price list would be posted by next week Tuesday. thank you for your patronage once again,” she stated.
