By Walter Vasquez
The leadership of the bakers of Santa Cruz and La Paz denounced increases of between Bs 40 and 45 in the quintal of flour and that merchants and intermediaries began to hide the product in anticipation of greater increases in the prices of the input. Emapa maintains that the supply for the sector is assured.
The situation is caused by the war between Ukraine and Russia, two of the main wheat producers in the world, which reduced their supply after the clashes began.
The merchants “from the market and the millers were giving us the quintal at Bs 165 until last Saturday and Sunday. But On Monday we woke up with Bs 220 per quintal and they still don’t want to sell us”, said Carmen Terán, leader of the Santa Cruz bakeries.
“There is no longer much flour in the markets, they have already hidden it. What there is is sold at Bs 210 or 215 per quintalwhen the price before was between Bs 165 and 170”, reported Dandy Mallea, executive secretary of the Federation of Artisan Bakers of La Paz, who received reports that in Cochabamba the product is not even found at Bs 240.
“They don’t want to sell us more than one or two bags per person, when an intermediate bakery needs five bags per day. The authorities are doing nothing to stop this speculation and concealment of this product,” said Terán, who assured that the situation will worsen in winter, when bread consumption increases.
In contact with the media, the general manager of the Food Production Support Company (Emapa), Franklin Flores, guaranteed yesterday that the state company has 130,000 tons of wheat stored in silos with which the supply of flour in the domestic market is ensured and the stability of the price of bread.
This volume is equivalent to1.6 million quintals of flour to be distributed to the bakery sector“, he claimed.
“They do not have that stock that they say. if they had it, dowhy are they late in delivering flour?”, questioned Mallea.
“The Government happily says that there is (flour), there will be for the West, but the east does not receive subsidized flour”, said Terán, leader of a sector that calculates that the input currently available will be enough for a week of production.
According to Mallea, as well as merchants from La Paz, Argentine flour sellers are stopping selling the product to Bolivia in the hope that prices will rise even more.
Lhe reserves of Emapa reach for “barely 45% of the national bakery sector”so the product “does not arrive and will not arrive” to bread producers, he said.
In addition, he added: “we have learned, unofficially, that even they are asking for help from the milling businessmen Bolivians, so that they provide them with flour with which they can cover the demand of the bakery sector”.
By Walter Vasquez
The leadership of the bakers of Santa Cruz and La Paz denounced increases of between Bs 40 and 45 in the quintal of flour and that merchants and intermediaries began to hide the product in anticipation of greater increases in the prices of the input. Emapa maintains that the supply for the sector is assured.
The situation is caused by the war between Ukraine and Russia, two of the main wheat producers in the world, which reduced their supply after the clashes began.
The merchants “from the market and the millers were giving us the quintal at Bs 165 until last Saturday and Sunday. But On Monday we woke up with Bs 220 per quintal and they still don’t want to sell us”, said Carmen Terán, leader of the Santa Cruz bakeries.
“There is no longer much flour in the markets, they have already hidden it. What there is is sold at Bs 210 or 215 per quintalwhen the price before was between Bs 165 and 170”, reported Dandy Mallea, executive secretary of the Federation of Artisan Bakers of La Paz, who received reports that in Cochabamba the product is not even found at Bs 240.
“They don’t want to sell us more than one or two bags per person, when an intermediate bakery needs five bags per day. The authorities are doing nothing to stop this speculation and concealment of this product,” said Terán, who assured that the situation will worsen in winter, when bread consumption increases.
In contact with the media, the general manager of the Food Production Support Company (Emapa), Franklin Flores, guaranteed yesterday that the state company has 130,000 tons of wheat stored in silos with which the supply of flour in the domestic market is ensured and the stability of the price of bread.
This volume is equivalent to1.6 million quintals of flour to be distributed to the bakery sector“, he claimed.
“They do not have that stock that they say. if they had it, dowhy are they late in delivering flour?”, questioned Mallea.
“The Government happily says that there is (flour), there will be for the West, but the east does not receive subsidized flour”, said Terán, leader of a sector that calculates that the input currently available will be enough for a week of production.
According to Mallea, as well as merchants from La Paz, Argentine flour sellers are stopping selling the product to Bolivia in the hope that prices will rise even more.
Lhe reserves of Emapa reach for “barely 45% of the national bakery sector”so the product “does not arrive and will not arrive” to bread producers, he said.
In addition, he added: “we have learned, unofficially, that even they are asking for help from the milling businessmen Bolivians, so that they provide them with flour with which they can cover the demand of the bakery sector”.
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