Families cut bread consumption as bakeries struggle to survive

Peruvians almost halved the consumption of bread; that is, if they used to buy 12 loaves of bread, today they only have enough for 7. While families with fewer resources buy only 1 to 5 loaves, according to a CPI study.

Citizen Domingo Asmat used to buy 20 loaves of bread for his family of 4, now he can only buy 6 loaves of bread to feed the children in the house.

“We used to eat 20 loaves, that was enough before the pandemic, now we only buy 6. That’s why we had to replace it with sweet potatoes, yucca to get it on the table and all that. Of course, before we found it much better, more bread, now it is small, you go to the bakery, and you find it small, you complain, who will tell you what. the situation is difficult, expensive things are here,” he explained.

According to INEI, this year a kilogram of bread costs 9 sols, which is 3 sols more than last year. The increase is due to higher prices for consumables and services used in production, said Pio Pantoja, a spokesman for the Peruvian Association of Bakery and Confectionery Entrepreneurs (Aspan).

“Unfortunately, the light is rising, the electrical energy that we bakers use a lot because our ovens, our mixers, our cars, our refrigerators use electricity and no one can stop it. In addition, the cost of rent is also rising; In addition, the workforce in the bakery sector also continues to grow,” he said.

Lots of bakeries for a limited market

There are 20,000 bakeries in Peru and only 12,000 should be on the market. Because of this imbalance merchants cannot update their prices. For this reason, having no profit, in the first 7 months of this year, 600 small businesses were closed, which distributed bread in tricycles, warehouses and baskets.

According to the FAO, in July, world wheat prices fell by 11%. According to ESAN economist Carlos González, it is the main ingredient used by bakeries that will not feel the immediate impact of this fall.

Low world prices still do not affect

“Unfortunately, the transfer is not instantaneous, there is always a delay of at least one month between international price changes and the impact it has on domestic products, especially those that require a certain degree of transformation, such as wheat,” he said.

If bakeries were to recoup their investment and make a profit, each piece of bread would have to be smaller than a petipan; however, since there are many enterprises for such a small demand, they have to compete only in quality, including cereals in the preparation and raising the price, since bread is still the cheapest prepared food we can consume.