The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mangaliso Ndlovu said that the government will not allow bakers to hike the price of bread without approval.
In an interview with CITE, Minister Ndlovu had this to say:
The circular went around yesterday but I don’t think the price has actually gone up. I spoke to bakers not to increase bread. They would not be effecting the increase today and I am yet to meet the bakers on a way forward.
The bakers’ argument is they are importing certain ingredients, which they need to make bread but this is why we were doing a series trying to highlight that people should use local supplies.
Local bakers who have been using local ingredients say their bread moves faster. The other challenge the bakers said was foreign currency needed to import these ingredients but some bakers will tell you our yeast and premix are sufficient for bread production.
The latest bread price hike was announced by major local bread manufacturer Innscor through a circular dated March 5, 2019.
The new price for a standard loaf of bread was set at $2.70 from $1.80.