According to an update to the parametric carried out by the Center of Industrial Bakers of Uruguay, the cost of bread from January to date increased by 13%. This is due to the fact that the price of flour -one of the main inputs- had an increase of 18% last December, to which was added another 8% which came into force from last Monday.
Some bakeries had chosen to raise the selling price of bread to the public in January, while others chose not to. Now, with this new rise in flour – due to the appreciation that wheat has been showing in international markets – it will determine that the average increase in bread will be between 5% and 8%, sources from the sector reported to The Observer. there may be business cases that they did not adjust in January that now are forced to transfer the entire 13% increase in their retail pricesthey limited
In the sector, they also maintain that the increase in other raw materials (oils, fat, eggs), and other variables such as wages, public rates and fuel should be considered.
In any case, each bakery is free to define what prices it sets to the public for its products, since there are many variables that affect it, such as geographical location or the type of negotiation that the agents have with the mills that supply the flour. In that sense, some businesses indicated that they had stock of flour and that, for now, they do not plan to adjust their prices to the public upwards.
The product most sensitive to the increase in flour is common bread (flute, porteño, Marseilles, hot dog bread, turtles). On the other hand, in other types of baked goods –which have other ingredients (in addition to flour)–, the impact is less. The weight of flour in the cost structure in artisan bakeries is lower than that of industrial bakeries. In the first case, this is due to the fact that there are other components that weigh more, such as labor, rent or energy (firewood or electricity).
