The Association of Bakers issued a new communique that rectifies the previous one, of August 13. Thus, the Association no longer suggests increasing bread prices by 15%, saying each producer should decide individually whether to raise the prices or not.
“The Association of Bakers of Moldova informs that the members of the Association do not support the rise of about 15% in the bread prices, as it was specified in the communique of August 13, and communicates that each bread producer will decide independently whether to increase the prices or not, depending on the own production costs,” reads the communique.
Contacted by IPN, the Association’s head Igor Cojuhari explained that such a decision was taken following the suspension of the higher electricity and gas tariffs. “Some of the producers increased the bread prices by 1-2%, while others by 5%. The prices of some types of bread were raised by even 20%. The prices of flour and wheat are decreasing now. Furthermore, if the previous electricity and gas tariffs are maintained, raising the bread prices won’t be necessary. Thus, each economic entity should individually set the bread prices, depending on the costs incurred for raw material,” he stated.
After a discussion with bread makers on September 4, the administration of the Competition Council announced that they suspect a cartel agreement to increase bread prices. If it’s proven that this is true, the producers will face fines of 2% to 4% of the turnover for the previous year.
