Bread Set To Rise
Newcastle Herald
Monday November 5, 2007
THE price of bread seems certain to rise, with the cost of bakers' ingredients up by 30 cents a loaf.
NSW bakers expect more price rises for quality flours this month and Kurri Kurri baker Stewart Latter said they could not hold back increases from customers, as they have in the past year.Mr Latter, the NSW Baking Industry Association president, said everything going into his products has risen in price, especially butter.Then there is fuel to be factored in."We are saying all prices are going up," Mr Latter said."Twelve to 18 cents per loaf for just the flour, and add fats, oils and milk and prices are up by about 20 to 30 cents a loaf," he said.Mr Latter said he expected most flours to rise by about $240 a tonne to between $700 and $800 a tonne.The pursuit of cheap fuel cars running on ethanol also adds to price pressures.The global grain shortage, in which demand for grain for ethanol is a factor, is worsening because the drought in eastern Australia is eating into the source areas of hard wheat used in bread.Australia's winter wheat crop is now forecast at 12.1 million tonnes compared with the previous estimate of 15.5 million tonnes.The barley harvest forecast is 5 million tonnes, down from 5.9 million, while canola yields are estimated at 900,000 tonnes, down from 1.1 million. Merriwa grains farmer Paddy Carrigan is revelling in the high prices.2007 is a very good year compared with 2006, Mr Carrigan said, because of the June rains that have given his sowing such a kick."Prices are terrific, but only about 300 grams of flour goes into a loaf of bread," he said.Mr Carrigan, whose wheat harvest begins in about 10 days, asked consumers not to blame farmers for more expensive bread.Grain shortages are a nightmare for dairy farmers.They face huge feed price increases because their herds can no longer rely on pasture, once again due to the drought or low rainfall.Australia has recently approved the importing of sorghum and wheat from Argentina, and soybean from Paraguay, to ease the squeeze on feed and prices.
© 2007 Newcastle Herald