Ukrainian Bakers have said the country could face bread shortages.
This information was reported by Enovosty, as reported by URA-Inform.
The President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Bakers and the director of the company “Kyivkhlib” Yuriy Duchenko explained that the reason for this was the rise in flour prices. According to him, they see the solution in raising prices for their products.
Dudchenko noted that in June and July, the main bread producers in Ukraine worked either at a loss or at zero, and flour in the cost price of bread is “approximately 40%”.
«Flour prices have increased by 50% over the past few months and continue to rise. If in April we bought flour for 10 thousand per ton, now it costs 15 thousand, and by November the price is expected to be 16-16.2 thousand,» he explained.
At the same time, Duchenko emphasized: other raw materials – sugar, sunflower oil, etc. – have increased in price by more than 20% since the beginning of the year. In addition, he noted, the costs of electricity, logistics, packaging materials are growing.
«Therefore, it is necessary to raise bread prices by 15-20%. If this does not happen, many bakeries may simply stop and the country will experience shortages of bread. Already now, a number of enterprises are on the verge of stopping, some are switching to one-shift work,— Duchenko said.
Flour has become more expensive, according to him, due to the fact that the domestic market has a limited supply of second-class grain – used for flour for the baking industry. The reason for this, Duchenko explained, is that many sellers are holding back grain in anticipation of more favorable prices.
In addition, he noted, millers are incurring large costs due to power outages. Although the power outages for bakeries that are part of critical infrastructure were minimal in July.
Recall that earlier it was reported that another tax in Ukraine could be raised: it became known what you will have to pay more for.
