Bakers’ Union Appeals to Sovereign Council Chairman to Resolve Bread Crisis

Sudanhorizon – Nazik Shamam
The Sudanese Bakers’ Union has appealed to the Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, for urgent intervention to resolve the bread crisis in Khartoum State.
The union has meanwhile downplayed the outcomes of the Khartoum Sstate meeting held on Saturday, which recommended reverting to the previous price for a sack of flour.
The meeting between the Governor of Khartoum, the Bank of Sudan, and the Ministry of Industry approved setting the production cost of a sack of flour at 71,000 Sudanese pounds, plus 10,000 pounds as profit for the mills (totaling 81,000 pounds per sack).
The Deputy Secretary-General of the Bakers’ Union, Mohamed Jabran, confirmed that the mills have not adhered to the meeting’s outcomes and have continued selling a 25-kilogram sack of flour to bakeries for 107,000 to 108,000 pounds.
In an exclusive statement, Jabran asserted that the government is placing bakery owners in direct confrontation with citizens. He called upon the Ministry of Industry, the Bank of Sudan, and the Khartoum State government to fully assume their responsibilities and support citizens instead of making bakeries “the scapegoat for government failures.”
Jabran also revealed increases in other inputs for bread production, noting that a single batch of dough now requires two sacks of flour, costing 216,000 Sudanese pounds, compared to 146,000 pounds at the old price (an increase of 60,000 pounds in flour alone). He added that a carton of yeast has increased by 50,000 pounds, a jerrycan of oil by 100,000 pounds, and labor costs have risen by 15,000 pounds per sack.
Regarding the exemption from fees for September, Jabran explained that all bakeries had settled their prior obligations, with only fees for outdoor displays and advertising signs remaining. He expressed surprise at the governor’s demand that bakeries maintain the old bread prices, especially given the ongoing local tax collection campaigns and the lack of any actual enforcement of the official price for mills.
The Sudanhorizon has learned that mills are also complaining about the lack of electricity and the high cost of fuel, which doubles milling costs. Mill owners have requested fuel subsidies to enable them to reduce the price of a sack of flour.

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