Wheat exports up, as are bread prices.

MUMBAI: The rise in wheat exports has resulted in an increase in the price of bread in the city. Over a week, a loaf of bread has become costlier by Rs 2-4 as the cost of its main ingredient, maida, has gone up owing to wheat shortage. The rise in input costs will shortly affect all bakery products, from the staple pav to the select multi-grain bread and from biscuits to cakes.

"Wheat is being exported on a massive scale, causing a shortfall in arrivals from Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The price of 1 quintal jumped from Rs 1,200 to 1,600 in July and we had no choice but to raise the cost of maida," saida flour mill owner.

Tirandaz Irani of Yazdani Bakery has raised the price of six pieces of pav from Rs 6 to Rs 8. "Other products may become costlier by 25%. Faulty policies are to be blamed."

City Bakery's Mehdi Dashti said the bakers' association was yet to meet to decide on a formal price rise. "But it is inevitable. In the past month alone, the cost of a 90-kg bag of maida has risen from Rs 1,400 to Rs 1,800. The additional input costs have become difficult to absorb."

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com