The Economy Ministry on Friday increased the size of all bread bundles. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
BEIRUT — The Economy Ministry on Friday evening announced a weight increase for all three Lebanese bread bundle sizes. The adjustments amount to a more than 5 percent drop on average in the per-gram price of bread.
Here’s what we know:
• From Saturday, a family-size bundle of bread will still be sold in bakeries at LL9,500 and LL10,000 pounds in shops, but will have a minimum weight of 1,095 grams, as opposed to its previous weight of 1,035 grams, constituting a price drop of 5.48 percent per gram in bakeries. A large bundle, the minimum weight of which has increased by 45 grams to reach 875, will sell for LL8,000 in bakeries and LL8,500 pounds in shops, a per-gram price drop of 5.14 percent. The small bundle meanwhile will still sell for LL5,000 in bakeries and LL5,500 in shops, for a minimum weight of 375 grams — a 20 gram increase — constituting a per-gram price decrease of 5.33 percent.
• The price drop is associated with the lira’s gain in value against the US dollar on the parallel market, which in recent days rose from trading around LL25,000 to the dollar to about LL23,000, as well as a decrease in global fuel prices.
• In addition to the exchange rate and the price of fuel in the Lebanese market, bread prices are also based on global wheat prices, the imports of which are still 100 percent subsidized at the official exchange rate of LL1,507.5 to the dollar by Banque du Liban. The prices of sugar, yeast, salt and plastic packaging are also included in bread pricing.