Bakery products are expected to rise by at least a few percent starting in the autumn. Bakeries are buying more expensive flour, energy, and fuel prices are growing, and they need to raise wages for their employees, representatives of the bakery union explained. The price increase is already necessary, they said.
“With the rising price of wheat, millers are increasing the price, which will be reflected in the price of baked goods. More requirements for organic products enter into this. Even organic products will increase in price, ” said Petr Šedivý, chief commissioner of the Bread of the Year baking competition, which takes place on Wednesday in Pardubice.
Šedivý estimates that baked goods will be five to ten percent more expensive. His colleague from the bakers’ union and owner of a bakery in southern Moravia, Petr Křivka, expects prices to rise by 15 and 30 percent.
“Speaking for smaller bakers like me, we have no choice but to reflect the costs in the price of our products. The increase has to come; we want to pay our employees well, we have to factor in the price of flour, energy, baked goods will have to get more expensive,” Křivka said.
Around 700 bakeries in the Czech Republic produce about 260,000 tonnes of bread a year, almost a million loaves a day. Its average consumption is 40 kilograms per person per year. Before 1989, it was 50 kilograms. The bakeries’ supplier price per kilogram of bread is currently CZK 17.26 on average and has been stagnant since 2011. The consumer price is CZK 29.06, and traders have a margin of 30 percent.
Most bread, 63 percent, is sold in supermarkets. Specialty bakeries and smaller stores account for 27% of total sales. The most popular bread is still the consumptive Šumava with 56 percent, followed by rye bread (16 percent). Most customers prefer bread that costs between 25 and 35 crowns.