Non-brand bakery products prices soar by 20%

The prices of non-brand bakery products have been increased by 20% amid hike in prices of flour, oil, butter and other ingredients used for baking.

Mohammad Jalal Uddin, president of Bangladesh Bread, Biscuit and Confectionery Manufacturers Association (BBBCMA) told UNB that the increased prices of bakery products have become effective from Wednesday (1 June).

As per the decision of BBBCMA, the new prices the bakery products made in manually-operated bakeries have been implemented across the country, he said.

"The prices of bakery products made by different brands with automatic machines have also increased. The bakeries operated manually were also demanding to increase the prices," he added.

Bakery owners said that the prices of almost all ingredients used in bakery products have shot up.

Apart from oil, prices of butter, flour, sugar, milk and eggs have gone up. The price hike of different ingredients used in bakery products forced many to shut their business, said Jalal Uddin.

The BBBCMA leader said the bakeries of big companies, which make products in auto and semi-auto machines are not members of the Association of Manually Operated Bakery Owners and tese companies have already increased the prices of their products.

According to the BBBCMA, there were 5,000 manually-operated bakeries across the country before Covid-19 pandemic. Half of those were temporarily shut during the pandemic.

After improvement of the Covid situation, many returned to business but now more than 500 bakeries have been closed due to rising commodity prices, the BBBCMA leader claimed.