Fresh bread in a Beirut bakery, as it looked July 1, 2020. (Photo: AFP, file)
BEIRUT — The Federation of Bakery Syndicates held a sit-in at the Economy Ministry Friday to protest the price of Arabic bread set by the state, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• “The price of a ton [1.176,47 litres] of diesel has increased by 200 dollars, and a ton of sugar has increased by 100 dollars. We asked [the state] to adjust the price of a bundle of bread after the fluctuations in the cost of ingredients used in breadmaking and the [value of the lira relative to] the dollar, which reached LL28,000[-$1],” syndicate head Ali Ibrahim said.
• Ibrahim offered an alternative pricing strategy, according to which bread bundles would be sold at “however much they cost” to make, reiterating bakeries’ demands that they have some say in how the ministry sets bread prices, and promising that bakeries would go on strike if “a single fine” is issued against any bakery owner.
• The syndicate chief condemned the closure of mills — namely the Crown Flour Mills, Bakalian Mill, and the Bekaa mill — and the effect these closures would have on the supply chain, and called “people to stand with [the syndicate] because, if the subsidy is lifted, the price of a bundle of bread will be LL35,000.”
• The Economy Ministry has been regularly re-pricing Arabic bread bundles. Over the past months fears of a bread crisis have been looming amid wheat supply uncertainties, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, from which Lebanon has imported most of its wheat. The latest reports indicated less than 20 days’ worth of wheat were available in Lebanon, despite government approval of financing for wheat imports and the approval of a World Bank loan for the same purpose.