International reporting
Is bread in danger of becoming a luxury product in Spain?
Audio 02:31
(Illustrative image) Getty Images/Westend61 - Westend61
By: Diane Cambon
3 mins
Since the Russian invasion, prices have soared and directly affected the first major users of flour, namely bakers.
This is the case of Javier.
The young artisan baker took up the challenge of offering natural bread, but today he is struggling to maintain his business.
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With a sure gesture, Javier puts in a dozen chapatas, a round loaf of wheat flour that will cook for about forty minutes.
During this time, he prepares the sourdough for the baguettes and boules the next day.
For the past two years, this converted baker has been getting up every day at 4:30 a.m. to run the only bakery in Peraleda de la Mata, a village of some 2,000 inhabitants an hour and a half from Madrid.
Today, he has to face the rise in grain prices.
“
The price increase for flour started at the end of 2021, it was a normal increase, acceptable for this raw material.
But just before the war broke out in Ukraine, it started to skyrocket and
it just doesn't stop there
.
»
Spain is Europe's main wheat importer, followed by Italy.
Its main suppliers are none other than Russia and Ukraine.
An addiction that she pays a high price: “
It's more difficult to find flour every time.
You have to be able to plan ahead.
But obviously, we, the craftsmen, we do not have the same stock capacities as the industrialists,
deplores the baker
.
In addition, these are more delicate flours, without preservatives.
They should be consumed within two months.
»
Craftsmen, big losers
Faced with industrial manufacturers, artisan bakers are the big losers in this unfavorable economic context, as Javier explains: “
We'll be able to hold out for a while, but in the long term, it's unbearable.
The small bakeries will disappear, only the big manufacturers will resist, because they can work with a certain margin.
They produce 4,000 to 6,000 baguettes a day, they can lose 10 cents per baguette, but the rest of us can't.
Here, we make between 100 and 200 pieces of bread a day and we are not going to hold out.
»
As in all food sectors, this rise in the price of raw materials is reflected in the products sold to consumers: "
Bread is our staple food, it's our tradition and we find it on all tables and in all families.
But if it continues like this… Yes, cereal-based products will become a luxury.
»
For this Belgian customer who has his second residence in Peraleda de la Mata, this price increase is not surprising either: “
inflation is global.
When I see the prices here, I imagine that for the Spaniards, it must be a little more difficult than at home.
»
The union of baker bosses demanded solutions to curb this inflation.
For now, only aid has been announced to compensate for the rise in the price of electricity, which has more than doubled, causing the ruin of many traders.
► To read also: Spain: inflation at its highest level for thirty-seven years
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