Industrialists warn that the price will affect a rise in cookies, noodles and other products that are not made with Emapa flour. Fejuve asks not to raise the price of bread.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has already had repercussions in Bolivia with the increase in the price of flour from 165 to 210 bolivianos per quintal, although the Food Production Support Company (Emapa) guarantees the supply and that battle bread will not suffer any increase.
The president of the Association of Industrial Millers (ADIM), Carlos Gutiérrez, reported that Bolivia imports enough wheat flour and this has a direct impact on market prices.
"Flour has already gone up in price, there is a constant increase. A month ago it was at 165 bolivianos per quintal, but now it is at 210 bolivianos, on average", he specified in contact with Página Siete.
He explained that the bakery industry of the west has the supply of flour from Emapa and that guarantees that the price of battle bread does not suffer an increase.
"This increase in the price of flour goes to the bakeries, the marginal bread markets that do not have access to Emapa's flour, must raise the price of cookies and bagged bread. Industrial companies have access to flour at market prices," said the industrialist.
He added that this will also have an impact on the industry that manufactures noodles and other pasta.
Until November last year, a quintal of the imported product cost up to 140 bolivianos, lower than the price marketed by Emapa at that time, which was 147 to 150 bolivianos.
Seventy percent of the flour consumed in the country comes mainly from Argentina and 30% from the domestic supply.
Figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) processed by the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE) reveal that in 2019 Bolivia imported flour for 111 million dollars, the following year it reached 127 million and in 2021 it dropped to 92.8 million dollars. In January flour entered for US$5.7 million (see graph).
The executive of the Federation of Bakers of La Paz, Dandy Mallea, agreed that the quintal of flour rose from 165 to 210 bolivianos. "Yesterday (Thursday) we met with all the leaders of the sector and it has been determined to declare a state of emergency, because the price of the quintal of flour in the market has risen disproportionately. What used to cost 165, 160 bolivianos, today the same flour costs 200, 210 bolivianos. And, to top it off, there is no flour that can be within the supply in grocery stores," he told Red Uno.
Emapa's manager, Franklin Flores, assured that the entity guarantees the distribution of flour to the bakery sector to keep the price of battle bread stable.
"We guarantee all the flour required by the baking sector. Emapa has to date about 130 thousand tons of wheat stockpiled in the silos of the Bolivian State, therefore, families can be calm because we have the necessary wheat," he said.
Flores reported that there is a sufficient stockpile to mill and produce 1.6 million quintals of flour to distribute to bakers and this management is planned to stockpile 200 thousand tons of wheat to ensure the supply of flour in 2023.
The Government has an agreement with the bakery sector, which was signed last January, to keep the price of bread stable at 50 Boliviano cents in La Paz, El Alto and Cochabamba; 40 cents in Oruro and 30 cents in Potosí, among other regions.
The president of the Federation of Neighborhood Councils (Fejuve) of La Paz, René Ballivián, rejected the possible increase in the price of the unit of bread, after the bakers denounced the increase of the quintal of flour and did not rule out mobilizations so as not to affect the family basket of the people of La Paz.
"On behalf of the 633 neighborhood boards and the 150 native communities we transmit to the population that we have taken the determination of not allowing the rise in the price of bread and if this happens, we will take the appropriate measures, from mobilizations to a stoppage of activities," he said.
He warned that a possible increase in the price of bread will unleash inflation in the country.
According to the portal of the Argentine newspaper El Cronista, in Argentina, in five days the price of flour increased 70% due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
In Peru, it increased by 12 soles in the last days. The bag went from 122 to 136 soles, reported Infobae.
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