No bread increase… for now
As soon as the increase in the price of bottled gas was officially announced, some bakers threatened to revise the price of bread made with luxury soft wheat flour, in order to pass on the difference. On Thursday May 30, the National Federation of Bakeries and Patisseries (Fédération Nationale de la boulangerie et de la pâtisserie) held a meeting focusing on a number of issues.
The first con-cerns the Federation’s decision not to raise the price of bread, which will be maintained at 1.20 Dirham (USD 0.12), as agreed with the public authorities several years ago. However, this price could be updated pending the outcome of the meeting scheduled to bring together the Federation with representatives of the Ministries of the Interior, Agriculture and ONICL (National Interprofes-sional Office for Cereals and Pulses), the date of which has not yet been set.
“We’re pinning our hopes on this meeting, which should be devoted to examin-ing a number of urgent issues concerning the sector, including the reform of the pieces of legislation governing the profession. One of our priorities is to combat the proliferation of bakeries set up inside garages, which represent a dangerous informal sector”, explains the Federation’s deputy president. Numerous bakeries have sprung up in several towns across the Kingdom, lacking sufficient space and the necessary equipment.
Another decision made at the end of the meeting on Thursday May 30 was to approach the Minister of Finance to “obtain a preferential rate of taxation and social security contributions, particularly in favor of units experiencing difficult financial conditions”. The Federation is also expected to call on the General Tax Directorate (DGI) to reschedule the tax debts of certain operators.
The Federation also points out that all inputs have risen in recent years, not for-getting charges such as social security contributions, as well as the Smig (mini-mum wage), which has increased several times, at least for those who apply it. The next increases are scheduled for September 1, 2025 and September 1, 2026.
It should be remembered, however, that not all bakeries and patisseries are ex-periencing the same economic conditions. Some are doing perfectly well. The question of the price increase in response to the increase in the price of gas cyl-inders only concerns those bakeries that concentrate solely on the production of bread at 1.20 Dirhams (USD 0.12), and which have been directly impacted. These units sell the bread to intermediaries at 0.95 Dirhams (USD 0.095), who in turn resell it to grocery stores that offer it to consumers at 1.20 Dirhams (USD 0.12). They rely heavily on volume to generate a meagre profit margin, despite a loss of 0.25 Dirhams (USD 0.025) on the final price. For the other units, the bread sold at 1.20 Dirhams (USD 0.12) is really just a loss leader, as they make up for it on other products whose price remains unrestricted.
Hassan EL ARIF
