– Monthly significant increases in electricity and gas prices make the production of bread unprofitable – says Janusz Kazimierczuk, president of SPC. Representatives of the bakery industry have warned that there may be no shortage of bread in the fall. The Minister of Agriculture, Henryk Kowalczyk, assures that there will be no shortage of flour and asks for “spreading panic”.
The CMR research agency and the Gazeta.pl portal prepare their own price basket every month. According to the latest research, the price of bread in June increased by 35.9 percent year on year. The increase is influenced by many factors, including the prices of raw materials and production costs, as well as the prices of gas , fuel and electricity.
The war in Ukraine causes food problems
Across Europe , the problem with wheat is noticeable. This is due to the fact that Ukraine is one of the largest exporters of cereals in the world, and due to the ongoing war, the export of this product is limited by tons. “We are talking about at least six million tons of wheat and about fourteen million tons of maize if we are referring to the two main crops of which Ukraine is historically the world’s largest producer,” explained Maurizio Martina, UN Deputy Director General for Food and Agriculture (FAO).
This problem was somewhat resolved at the end of July. Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations then reached an agreement to export blocked grain from Ukrainian ports. Still, crops are being stolen by the Russians and crops destroyed. In turn, Russia suspended its exports of wheat, rye and several other grains until August 31.
There will be no bread in the fall? “spreading panic”
When asked if the price of bread in Poland would reach PLN 10 per loaf, Minister of Agriculture Henryk Kowalczyk said that the price of bread increased due to the cost of energy, grain and flour, and speculation about further increases is only “spreading panic”. He also assured that “there will be no shortage of flour”.
On the other hand, representatives of the industry are less calm. Janusz Kazimierczuk, the president of SPC admitted that in his opinion there may be no bread in the fall. – The monthly significant increases in electricity and gas prices make the production of bread unprofitable. To this should be added the wage pressure of employees and the more expensive packaging and transport – he said in an interview with portalemspozywczy.pl .
Industry warns: Bread may not be available in the fall “
Jacek Górecki, president of the Association of Bakery Producers, who in an interview with the portal admitted that “unfortunately such a scenario is possible” is of a similar opinion.
– According to the declarations of our government, we will not run out of food, because Poland is self-sufficient in terms of raw materials. However, how is the food industry supposed to produce it, if we are threatened with shortages in access to electricity or gas? If the ovens are put up, there will be no production, and thus there will be no basic product, which is bread. Most food businesses suffer from exactly the same problem. If the industry does not have the uninterrupted supply of energy, the shelves will become empty – he explains.
Shrinkflation and skimpflation are already ubiquitous in bakeries – artificially enlarged breads , ” new breads” with lower weight, cheaper substitutes for the products used – these are just some of the tricks used by bread producers to hide the higher prices of bread from consumers. Andrzej Piętka from Akademia Wypieków predicts that this practice will become more and more common in the coming months.
Source: Gazeta
