Cost of bread creeps up as Supply Ministry rolls back commercial price controls

Cost of bread creeps up as Supply Ministry rolls back commercial price controls

Bread prices see sudden spike due to Supply Ministry’s decision to reverse price controls.

The post Cost of bread creeps up as Supply Ministry rolls back commercial price controls first appeared on Mada Masr.Loaves of bread sold commercially have increased in price over recent weeks by as much as 50 piasters. 

The sudden price spike is due to the fact that the Supply Ministry has stopped intervening to maintain the price controls it had introduced almost a year ago, according to industry insiders who spoke to Mada Masr. 

It comes as global wheat prices rise and wheat harvest season approaches in Egypt, with national stocks depleting toward the end of the agricultural year. As a result, the cost of controlling prices has increased for the Supply Ministry at a moment when Egypt’s government is grappling with a foreign currency shortage. 

Consumers, as a result, are confronted with more expensive loaves of bread, alongside higher prices for other key commodities, which have contributed to keeping domestic inflation at over 30 percent. 

Subsidized loaves of bread at fixed prices are still available to households who have a subsidy card — granted to families who meet particular income thresholds and entitling the owner to purchase a quantity of key