Bread, pastries to cost more from today

Sep 25, 2008 News

The Bakers Lobby Group has decided to increase the price of bread by about 10 per cent effective today, as a result of the increase in the price for flour by the National Milling Company (NAMILCO).

The government had subsidised the price of flour to all bakers but the subsidy came to an end on September 5, resulting in bakers paying an additional $1,500 for a bag of flour from NAMILCO.

Chief Executive Officer of Bakewell, Naeem Nazir, told Kaieteur News that this increase is having a severe impact on the industry, as some bakers cannot afford to pay it.

He added that the bakers’ group then held a meeting and decided to increase the price for bread and flour products.

However, following that decision, a meeting was held between Commerce Minister, Manniram Prashad, some members of the Bakers Lobby Group and the Management of NAMILCO, where it was decided that the increase in flour price would not be as steep as originally proposed.

NAMILCO has made a commitment to look at further reductions as cheaper wheat becomes available later in the year.

The Milling Company has also pledged to work with bakers at significantly improving the quality of flour supplied to them.

In a press release issued yesterday, the Commerce Ministry stated that the increased flour prices are especially surprising given that the price of wheat has been falling steadily in recent months, and have returned to the level at which they were last year September on the world market.

The release added that President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is currently overseas on Government business, has been briefed on the matter and has indicated his intention to intervene by exploring ways in which more competition can be introduced in the domestic flour market to ensure that the dominant position that is currently enjoyed by NAMILCO is not used by the company to exploit consumers.