Bakeries told not to raise bread prices

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has warned all bakeries and shops in the Kingdom to comply with its pricing mechanism and not increase bread prices.
“The pricing strategy is very efficient and the flour is controlled by the state, so we will close bakeries and shops that do not follow the rules and regulations,” said Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, the minister of commerce and industry.
Many bakery owners said that they were facing losses after the price of flour had gone up. The price of a bag of white flour is SR 22, while brown flour sells at SR 28 per bag, and thus the rate of bread has increased to two riyals.
“The closure of more than 15 bakeries around the Kingdom due to the accumulation of losses and their inability to pay back their debts or to make profits because of the high prices of production are a cause for concern,” said Fahd Al-Salman, head of the national commission for bakeries.
Al-Salman said that there are some bakeries that have opted out of the bread-making business. “The decision to enforce new charges on foreign workers has made the situation worse,” he said.
The rule Al-Salman referred to stipulates that a company based in Saudi Arabia has to pay SR 2,400 annually for each expatriate employee if their total number is higher than that of Saudi nationals.
If the current situation is not be controlled, he warned, then bakeries in the Kingdom may head toward a possible crisis, especially in the holy month of Ramadan and during Haj.
Saudi Arabia offers the highest subsidy in the world for wheat flour and it imports wheat from abroad, mostly Europe and Canada. The homegrown wheat in several regions of Saudi Arabia also contributes significantly to meeting domestic requirements.