With the money we used to pay for a loaf of bread, you can now buy half a loaf!
New prices for bread, even higher, have been in stores since the day before yesterday. A small loaf of 250 grams of "Zhito Lux" whose price was 25 denars, now it is 28 denars. Until not so long ago, the big bread from 480 grams, "Zhito Lux" sold it at this price - 28 denars. Now already its price is 49 denars.
Bread and baked goods producers say that their costs, especially for electricity or gas, are huge. Zito Lux announced on the stock exchange that it ended the first half of the year with a pre-tax loss of 747.000 euros.
"The global trend of rising prices of all types of energy (gas 320 percent and electricity 247 percent compared to last year) accompanied by the rising prices of all raw materials in the food industry (wheat 41 percent), had a great impact on the company's operating results in the first half of 2022. The Government's decision to freeze prices in the first two months of the year led to negative net results, which were difficult to cover in the following months. The company ended the first half of 2022 with a pre-tax loss of MKD 45.954.000," it says in the company's report on operations until June 30.
The president of the Milling and Bakery Industry Group, Goran Mališić, says that the corrections in the price of bread that have been made in recent days are the result of the new increase in the price of electricity and gas in August compared to July.
– The price of gas in August is 100 percent higher than in July. The price of electricity reached up to 500 euros per megawatt-hour. Everyone talks about the increase in the price of bread, but they don't say how much costs the companies are facing, and they, in turn, increased the prices of bread by only 10 percent. The government must take measures to protect companies from gas and electricity price shocks. With these prices, if the producers do not increase the prices of their products, they should put a lock on the door - says Mališić.
The grain producers say that the wheat harvest is over and that finally a price of 19 and 19,5 denars per kilogram was reached, while last year's price was 10 denars per kilogram.
- The price increase is not due to more expensive wheat, because bread is not yet kneaded from the new flour from our production. This year we had lower yields than expected. We have not yet summed up how many tons were collected from the harvest, but there will be regions that delivered less wheat than last year. What is good this year is that in cooperative relations we have reached an agreement on keeping the wheat in the silos. This means that whoever doesn't want to take money now, will take it when he needs it and that according to the then current price, which means that he can take more money, if the stock market prices are like that - said Pero Stojkovski from the Association of Farmers.
Mališić explains that the increase of 100 percent has already been included in the calculation of the new price of bread.
- In recent months, we have already been buying at the price that domestic producers are offering now. As for the domestic production, how much they had - we bought it now, but the yields fell short. We don't know what the prices on the stock exchanges will be in the future - says the president of the Milling and Bakery Industry Group.
The Money portal, based on data from the Business Network platform, announced last year's profits of the largest producers of bread and pastries. Last year "Dime" made a profit of 400.000 euros, "Žito Skopje Silbo" 289.000 euros, "Žito Leb" - Ohrid 200.000 euros, and "Special" 64.000 euros. "Zhito Lux" was also in loss last year, and it was 287.000 euros.
In which country from the Western Balkans did bread become more expensive?
