• Bread and other bakery products are most likely heading for a new price increase in Romania.
Industry estimates indicate an increase that could even reach 10% by the end of this month, the main reason being the sharp increase in fuel prices in recent weeks.
Repeated increases at the pump – gasoline and diesel – have a direct impact on the costs of transporting raw materials, but also on the logistics of distributing finished products to stores. Transportation represents a significant share of bread producers' expenses, and recent increases at gas stations have increased pressure on the sector's already low margins.
President breaker, the employers' organization of the milling and baking industry, has signaled to Agerpres that, in the absence of concrete support measures from the authorities for the food sector, price adjustments are becoming inevitable. The announced increase is expected to be in the order of a single percentage digit, but the exact level will depend on the subsequent evolution of fuel prices. If the upward trend continues, even greater increases are not ruled out in the coming period.
The current economic context further complicates the situation: the bakery industry has been facing high energy costs for some time (especially natural gas, essential for baking), and the lack of compensation or capping schemes adapted to the agricultural and food sector leaves producers with no other solutions than the partial transfer of these expenses to the consumer.
Producer representatives emphasize that these price increases are not desired, but represent a reaction to external pressures in the supply chain. In the absence of interventions to stabilize energy and transportation costs, Romanians can expect the staple food to become even more expensive in the immediate future.
Article written by Gabriela Dan, Editor-in-Chief Arta Albă
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