The Ministry of Commerce has published a new update of the reference values ​​for wheat in the Official Gazette. The new prices bring 25-kilo sacks of common 000 flour to $1,878 from $1,764 and, using the price of a ton of wheat as a reference, to $39,609.83.

The previous increase, authorized three weeks agohe had brought the kilo of bread exceeding $500. The new movement of the main entrance is excluded will again have an impact on the prices of bakeries. In some neighborhoods of the City of Buenos Aires, Indeedthe bread already retails for $650.

The official provision is part of the Argentine Grain Stabilization Fund (FETA), created just over a year ago, to establish reference prices for 000 and 0000 flour in 25-kilo bags and per ton.

With the increase granted now, for the period January-April, the increase reaches 63.3% year on year, according to resolution 502/2023 of the Ministry of Commerce, published this Friday in the Official Gazette.

The argument of the secretariat in charge of Matias Tombolini is that this percentage of the increase is “well below” the price measured by the INDEC for the price of French bread in Greater Buenos Aires. The latest March data showed an interannual variation of this food of 90.3%.

The official agency reported that a kilo of French bread cost $505.58 a kilo last month. That is, 10.1% more than the previous month, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report.

“To improve the impact of the financial instrument both in the cost structure and in the product for the consumer, it is necessary to increase the offer of flours with counterpart on the market and, likewise, update their values ​​so that they are consistent with the evolution of the rest of the cost components of products derived from wheat flour”Justified trade.

The new increase suggests it will go straight to the bakeries. In the interior of the country, a kilo of bread would go from the current $450 to $517. According to Martín Pinto, head of the Merlo Bakers Center, “at this rate, In the short term, the kilo will be $650″. In fact, it is already sold at that price in some shops in the Federal Capital.

According to Gastón Mora, of the Bakery Center 27 de Abril Avellaneda, “it is estimated that by the middle of the year the price of bread will be $800 a kilo, there are even mills that withdraw from FETA for non-payment,” he warned before the consultation clarion.

Just the acceleration of prices has led the bakers, to try to meet you with the Secretary of Commerce, as they fear for the continuity of their business.

Last Thursday, April 13, representatives of bakers from 35 districts of the province of Buenos Aires met at the headquarters of CIPAN’s Merlo to assess the current situation and adopt urgent measures.

Artisan bakeries claim to be “in a state of extinction”. “We have suffered the elimination of subsidies and the excessive increase in electricity and gas, the prices of the raw materials we use are constantly increasing, FETA reaches only a few And only for 000 flour our sales are decreasing from month to month and the profitability we have is minimal”, they complain.

“We need bread to reach the table of all Argentines at a fair and reasonable price,” explain the industry leaders.