Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Ion Perju said the prices of baked goods were raised unjustifiably by some of the business entities and retail outlets and the reasons behind the rises are not economic-financial in character, IPN reports.

In a news conference on May 14, Ion Perju noted the statements made by some of the politicians are speculative. These started already the election campaign and try to divert public attention from the problems that haven’t been solved by the presidential administration owing to which the country fails to obtain important funds of millions of euros in loans and grants.

According to the minister, the price of 1 kg of flour of premium quality on the domestic market is of 5.80 lei per kilogram, of the first quality – 5.60 lei, of the second quality – 5.30 lei, as opposed to 6.00-6.50 lei at the start of March. The price of wheat is also lower and it this way influences the flour prices down.

“We have wheat in the country. According to statistics, the global production of wheat for 2016-2019 was of over 1.1 million tonnes a year, except for 2020, when this was of only 569,000 tonnes owing to the severe drought,” said Ion Perju, noting about 400,000-450,000 tonnes of wheat are used annually on the domestic market and 125,000 tonnes of wheat of the total 569,000 tonnes are now being exported.

Therefore, the country’s food security is ensured. Over 318,000 ha were sowed with winter wheat this year and the harvest was projected at over 1.2 million tonnes of wheat. Furthermore, about 60,000 ha were sowed with barley and they will also contribute to ensuring the food security, noted the minister.

After receiving signals from the local level that the bread grew more expensive, even by 1 leu, the acting president of the Party of Action and Solidarity Igor Grosu said the problem derives from the fact that the export of wheat from the state reserve wasn’t stopped following last year’s drought. In a press briefing, he asked that the Government should urgently ban the export, while the wheat from the state reserve should be provided to mills and bakeries. Deputy Speaker Alexandru Slusari, of the PPPDA, also spoke about the rise in prices of baked goods. He said the Taraclia bakery company “Milina” increased the prices of its products made from flour of the first and second categories by 2% to 7%.