Consumer Council of Fiji has raised concerns that consumers will have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay much higher prices for hardware products after a 5% increase in tariff comes into effect.

Manager Campaign, Praneeta Singh said the council conducted a survey after the recent flooding as consumers complained about the cost of hardware products and their study shows that the biggest percentage change is in the iron and steel category.

She adds that the tariff band from 27 percent to 32 percent should be suspended for this year to provide some sort of relief to ease the burden on the consumers.