As many people argue over the price of bread, many bakers struggle against the rising cost of flour, yeast and electricity bill. “Fifty bakers closed their shops in Istanbul only in the last thirty days,” said Erdoğan Çetin, President of Istanbul’s Chamber of Bakers.

Turkish people continue to debate over the bread. Bakers want to hike the bread price in the face of rising input costs such as flour, yeast, electricity, natural gases, etc. However, the ministry and governorship do not let such hike in the bread price. The Ministry of Trade prevented a price hike in Ankara. Erdoğan Çetin, President of Chamber of Bakers, said fifty bakeries had to close down their shops in the last thirty days because they cannot meet the cost of flour, electricity, yeast, and workers. “They do not permit the price hike in bread. Hundreds of bakeries cannot buy flour. Many bakeries cannot bake bread. Fifty bakeries closed down their shops in the last thirty days. They have official permits and are mostly in Eyüp, Gaziosmanpaşa, and Esenyurt districts,” Çetin told BBM Magazine. Price of many inputs has hiked because of the rise in US dollar, according to Çetin. “The value of US dollar has fallen. However, flour sellers did not make any reduction in the price of flour. Since we cannot hike the bread price and flour sellers do not make any reduction, we face a difficult situation. While flour sellers have become national heroes, we became the scapegoat. Current bread prices do not cover our costs. If the price of flour, salt, yeast, additives, natural gas, and electricity returns to the price of May and June, we will not make any price hike in bread. Otherwise, we will go bankrupt, face loss, and close down our shops,” he said.