A worker holding wheat grains in a flour mill in Beirut, March 1, 2022. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Industry Minister George Bouchikian on Friday issued an order to ban all manufacturers from using subsidized flour with the exception of bread bakeries, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• “All factories except for all kinds of bread bakeries that produce using flour should use unsubsidized flour, or if they want to use subsidized wheat, they should pay for the difference in price to Banque du Liban,” the Industry Ministry decision said, according to the NNA.
• The decision also added that “all mills in Lebanon have to stop delivering subsidized flour to the factories mentioned or making them pay for the difference in price to the central bank.”
• As Lebanon suffers from an unprecedented ongoing economic crisis, BDL continues to subsidize wheat imports at the LL1,507.5 official exchange rate while the currency’s value has depreciated on the parallel market against the dollar reaching LL31,500 on Friday.
• The Russian invasion of Ukraine jeopardized Lebanon’s wheat supply, with nearly 67 to 95.1 percent of the country’s wheat imports coming from the Black Sea region, according to a 2019 study by British international development company Crown Agents. The crisis has also caused an international increase in grain prices. Earlier this month, the World Bank approved a $150 million loan for wheat imports, which still needs the new parliament’s approval.
• On Thursday, queues returned in front of some bakeries across Lebanon while some traders in Nabatieh were selling a package of bread for LL30,000 on the parallel market, the NNA reported. According to the new prices published by the Economy Ministry on Thursday, a family bundle package of white bread costs LL16,000.