President of the Istanbul Chamber of Bakers, Erdoğan Çetin, said that the bakers have no power to stand and that they went for a price increase without waiting for the tariff. President of the Istanbul Chamber of Bakers Erdoğan Çetin drew attention to the increasing costs and said: “In the first week of July, 210-gram bread will be sold for 4 TRY and 240-gram for 5 TRY. Currently, bread prices are 3-3.5 TRY. The kilogram price of bread is around 14 TRY." Pointing out that the bakers are having a hard time financially, Çetin said, “Bread is being old at a loss. Currently, 50 percent of the bakery shops are for sale in Istanbul."

“We have made our request for an official price list. In the first week of July, 210-gram bread will be sold for 4 TRY and 240-gram for 5 TRY. Currently, bread prices are 3-3.5 TRY. Some are selling for 4 TRY, too. The kilogram price of bread is around 14 TRY. The baker produces 270-280 grams and sells it for 4 TRY, 210-gram for 3 TRY, and 240-gram for 3.5 TRY.

Our costs have skyrocketed. We demanded a tariff of 4 TRY, but it is no longer enough. We are unable to cope with the price hikes. Currently, bread is sold at a loss. 50 percent of the bakery shops are for sale in Istanbul. 5 percent closed because they could not buy flour. 5 percent is getting closed because they can't find staff. Why are people selling their livelihood? They sell them because they can't earn money. Bakers are in a distress right now. We have severe problems with that. Of course, we want the government to solve these problems, all being well.

A sack of state-supported flour is around 350 liras. Bread flours in the private sector are about 500 TL. These are the minimums. There are also higher numbers. If the state did not provide reserved flour, and the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) did not give wheat support to the industrialists, we couldn't have bought a sack of flour lower than 600 TRY today. If flour starts to be sold at 600 TRY, the same day bread price will rise to 6 or 7 TRY.”

PUBLIC BREAD FINDS FAVOR AS BREAD PRICES RISE

Expressing that no baker tradesman would want to raise bread unless they were in economic distress, President of the Chamber of Bakers Erdoğan Çetin said, “Bread sales decrease along with hikes. Why is that? Because our capacity is shifting towards public bread. No tradesman would sell at high prices. But it's not bearable anymore. Every day the price of every item is increased. The shopkeepers cannot even afford the cost. Normally, we need to reach a sustainable price and go with it, but we cannot find a sustainable price because it changes every day.”

Çetin concluded as follows: “Wheat is given to the industrialists for the reserved flour. It also allows the baker to buy cheap flour. But at this point, there is a problem either in the system or distribution. Not every baker has access to this flour. A system needs to be developed for this. We can buy flour, which we buy for 500 liras in the private sector, for 350 liras supported by the state. This prevents the bread from being 5, 6, or 7 TRY. This is a nice practice. We want this to continue, but we want it to be available for all bakers. In addition, our costs such as electricity, natural gas, fuel, and water, which are controlled by the public, have increased a lot. The baker no longer wants to sell bread to the grocery stores. Fuel is 30 TRY. There is no guarantee that it will stop here. In this sense, we demand the baker to be supported in terms of reserve, electricity, natural gas, and fuel oil. Bread prices can be restrained with a contribution in this direction.”