Economist tells how much bread will rise in price
1 July 2024 12:24
ЕКСКЛЮЗИВ
Economic expert Andriy Novak warns of an inevitable rise in prices for bread and other goods due to the increase in the cost of electricity and fuel in Ukraine. He said this in an exclusive commentary to Komersant ukrainskyi 
The rise in electricity costs and the increase in excise taxes on fuel will definitely increase the cost of almost all products of Ukrainian manufacturers, the expert said. According to him, the prices of the most important social product – bread – are a vivid illustration of this process.
“There is a large share of transport costs in bread, because it is a product that is delivered every morning, conditionally, from the factory or bakery to retail outlets. And transport costs take a significant place [in the product cost structure].”
Novak also draws attention to the energy intensity of bread production, as most bakeries operate in a virtually continuous cycle almost 24 hours a day. Therefore, market participants predict a significant increase in bread prices.
“I have looked at the estimates of owners of bakeries, mills and bakeries – they predict that bread prices will rise by 5-8% from today’s prices for each unit,”
– the expert predicted.
However, since such an increase will traditionally be quite painful for citizens, Novak does not rule out that retailers will try to deceive consumers.
“It is possible that they will be forced to reduce the weight of some product categories so that the increase is not too noticeable to consumers. Relatively speaking, minus 50 grams of weight per unit of product – and the price will be about the same or slightly higher. In fact, we understand that this is a price increase,”
– novak added.
TheRada approved the fuel excise tax increase in the first reading. The Cabinet of Ministers raised the electricity tariff by 60% at once.
