Charcoal sellers lament low patronage in Kano

The sellers who spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday said that as a result of the low sales, it had become difficult for them to cater for their families.

They said that a big size bag of charcoal was being sold at N1, 800 while a half bag of the commodity sold at N900, as against its old prices of N2, 000 and N1, 000 respectively.

Malam Hamisu Abubakar, the Chairman, Charcoal Sellers Development Association in the state, expressed concern over the low patronage of the commodity due to exorbitant prices since the raining season set in.

Abubakar noted that the demand for the commodity witnessed a drastic drop, a trend that affected its sales.

“Some of the customers stopped buying charcoal, they preferred stove and electric cooker.

“A few months back, I sold about 30 bags daily, it has reduced to less than 15 bags since the rainy season started.

“Customers such as eatery operators and corn roasters among others that buy the commodity in large quantities are no longer patronizing us due to the rain.

“Whenever it rains, we keep the charcoal inside a shop and use big polythene to cover it so as not to get soaked or wet,” he said.

According to him, charcoal is sourced and transported to Kano from Bauchi, Kebbi, Nasarawa, and the Sokoto States.

Another charcoal vendor, Babangida Usman described the market condition as discouraging given the low patronage of the commodity.

Usman said he now sold less than one bag of the commodity daily as against three in the past five months.

“The business is a difficult one because at times if people don’t have money they won’t buy, they rather look for other alternatives to cooking’’ Usman said.

NAN, however, reports that kerosene had indicated a significant dropped in prices in the past few months in the area.

Suleiman Mohammed, a kerosene dealer at Yankura Market said that the prices of kerosene had reduced.

“A drum of kerosene is sold for N45, 000 and a Jerry can at N1, 300 as against its previous prices of N40, 000 and N1, 200 in the past four months.

“Customers now buy kerosene in small quantities like N200 or N500,” he said.

Nneka Nwaboda, a roasted corn seller, at Aba Road in Sabon Gari, said roasted corn prices were slightly up to cover for the expenditure on charcoal.

“A corn N30 is now N50 while the one for N50 was sold at N70,’’ Nwaboda said.

Also, Fatima Yusuf, an eatery operator at Galadima Road, said that she preferred Liquefied Natural Gas (LPG), to run her business.

“I am using gas to cook, it makes my work easy, fast, and clean, unlike charcoal which is cumbersome and unhygienic.’’ (NAN)