By Mercy Obojeghren
Asaba – Traders and consumers of frozen fish in Asaba and environs are lamenting the high cost of the commodity in the markets.
They told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday that the frozen fish, which used to be considered the fish for the common man, was now out of their reach.
Some frozen fish sellers attributed the continuous rise in the price of frozen fish to the high exchange rate of the naira to the dollar.
Mrs Obiajulu Nneli, a frozen fish sellers in Asaba main market said that many traders in Asaba were leaving the business due to the high cost of imported frozen fish in the last two years.
According to her, a carton of Titus frozen fish, which used to be sold for N18, 000 in 2017, now sells for N25, 000.
She said that a carton of mackerel fish that was sold for N14, 000 in the same year, now sells for N18, 000, adding that this has been affecting patronage by the consumers.
“Most of the customers now prefer to buy meat rather than buy fish and we now struggling to sell one carton of fish daily, unlike before when we were selling up to three cartons a day.
“And as I speak with you now, we hardly sell good size of fish for N250 because of the high cost of the fish.
“I have been in the business for over 16 years, what we are experiencing today has never happened before.
“Our distributors in the last two years have been telling us that the cost of bringing fish into the country is now very high.
“And most of the sea food operators in Asaba are not helping matters as there are speculations that the price of fish will soon increase again.
“But in order to remain in the business, most us still decided to continue since we do not have any other business for now,’’ she added.
Mrs Reginal Ebose, a civil servant said that in those days eating of frozen fish was a matter of choice, adding that “but nowadays, even the common man cannot afford it.’’
She said that to buy frozen fish now, one would have to spend so much.
“The fish is now so expensive that even the rich cannot afford it; this is too bad,’’ she said.
Ebose called on the government to intervene so that the prices of such commodities would drop “because of the nutritional value which makes it necessary for both the rich and the poor.’’
Mrs Agatha Ekeh, a trader at the Asaba Ogbeogonogo Market, said that she had not bought frozen fish in the last few months due to the high cost of frozen fish and low patronage by consumers.
Ekeh also called on the government to address the problem of high cost the fish so that they traders would not be out of business.
(NAN)