Coming on the heels of rice shortage and the recent price hike in that food staple, Belizeans endured another flour shortage this weekend, and this story could end just about the same way the rice story did – with higher prices for a loaf of bread: from $1.50 to $2.00, if bakers get the Government to agree to the increase.
This time it’s not smugglers that are being blamed for hoarding flour for profitable sale abroad. Several sources who purchase and sell flour told our newspaper that Belize Mills has not been producing flour because it has no wheat. The shipment of US wheat, we were told, was stuck in Guatemala because of bad weather last week.
Andre Perez, president of the Belize Bakers Association (which has 36 members), told Amandala today that as many as 12 bakeries had to close their doors between Friday and today, and three more may close their doors tomorrow because they cannot purchase wholesale flour to make bread and other bakery products.
Among them he listed two Kee’s bakeries in Belize City, Escalante’s and Cal’s of Orange Walk, Velasquez in Corozal, as well as two bakeries in Placencia and Punta Gorda Town. Perez told us that if no flour comes in, he will have to close his San Pedro bakery, Casa Pan Dulce, by Wednesday. Perez said that they have been grappling with supply and cost issues for months, and now, he said, his business has hit rock bottom.
Reliable sources tell us that the Belize Mills has had no white flour to sell since Friday, June 6, (and whole wheat flour ran out this morning). The next shipment of wheat is not expected until tomorrow, Tuesday. Once the wheat gets here, it has to be milled before it can be sold as flour on the local market, so the earliest projected date that they can start to sell flour again is Wednesday, June 11.
One major Belize City Southside baker told us that he has enough flour to last only until then, and even though he is hopeful that the flour ship will come in as planned, others are skeptical.
Perez told us that as a back-up, the Government has given the association a one-week permit to import flour either from Mexico or Guatemala, but if they do so, they will have to purchase the flour for anywhere from $85 to $110 for a hundred-pound sack. And while they don’t expect that this hefty price tag will immediately affect the price of bread, we are informed that bakers continue to lobby for a price increase of 50 cents for the standard 16-ounce loaf.
To date, bakers have been able to hold the price of bread stable. When the Government increased the controlled price of flour two months ago, it negotiated a deal with Belize Mills to give bakers a special price of $61 a sack – the old price. This meant that they were saving $25 off the wholesale price, and Government’s intention was to keep the price of bread stable.
But reports to our news desk are that some unscrupulous bakers have been exploiting the situation by reselling the discounted flour for profit. We understand that the position of Belize Mills is that they can no longer afford to sell flour at this discounted price to bakers, because they are doing it at a loss since there is no subsidy from the Government.
Now, it appears that no one can benefit from that discount arrangement because the reports now are that there is simply no flour to sell. And when the flour does get here, it will be at a higher cost, because, industry sources say, transportation costs have shot up by 100%. We understand that Belize Mills has indicated that it cannot hold on to the price discount for bakers at the new cost of getting flour into Belize.
Some bakers say that if they have to pay the market price of $86 for a sack of flour, then they want the price of bread to increase.
Zebedee “Sonny and Tan” Pitterson, not a member of the Belize Bakers Association, is one of those bakers whose flour supply will last only the next two days. He told our newspaper that even though he agrees with an increase in bread price, he thinks $1.75 should be sufficient to compensate for the increase they will have to pay for flour. Pitterson said that he wants to be fair to his customers, who he knows are already struggling with severe cost of living issues.
We understand that the 16-ounce bread which most Belizean families purchase for their dinner tables wholesales to grocers for $1.25. It means that they make 25 cents on each loaf – which is reportedly more than some bakers make on the loaf. We don’t know if the 25-cent cut for grocers will remain the same if the price of bread increases from $1.50 to $2.00. Zebedee Pitterson says that if bakers pay $25 more for a sack of flour, there is no need to charge more than 25 cents more on the loaf.
On behalf of the association, however, Andre Perez told Amandala that they would want Government to remove the price control from bread entirely, and let bakers set what they think is the best price. The Government of Belize is not in favor of that proposal.
Bakers have a meeting set for Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at which they will discuss these issues. They are awaiting a response from the Government on their demand to have the price of bread increased to $2.00.
The controlled price of flour was increased in mid-April by as much as 42%. At the time, Government had said via a press release that the price of bread would remain at $1.25 for un-sliced and $1.50 for sliced.
It explained that, “This will be done by a special arrangement with Belize Mills to sell bakers’ flour to members of the Bakers Association at the old price. This is pending a review of prices by the association, in direct consultation with Government at the time of the next shipment of wheat to Belize.”
Only last week, the controlled price of rice was increased by almost 30%.