Ukraine sees bread price hike by almost 21% since Sept 2016

"Prices of first-grade flour increased by 12% from September 2016 to September 2017, those of rye flour climbed by 4.5%, while the price of bread made from first-grade wheat flour rose by 19% over the period under review. The cheapest types of bread made of rye and wheat grew up in price by 20.9%," Pendzin said at a press conference on September 26.

Flour accounts for only 50% of the cost of a loaf of bread, while the rest are costs related to the minimum wage of workers, electricity and transportation costs, he said.

"We must understand that if all these components are changed, there will be a tendency towards an increase in the price of bread. Moreover, even with a more or less stable price of flour, the prices of this product will be still growing. Now we can see bread prices rise by 1-1.5% every month," the expert said.

Read alsoUkraine sees further decline in bread outputAccording to Pendzin, the trend is a little worrying, given that the state has refused to regulate prices of socially important food staples, in particular bread, since July.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Cabinet's decision to stop state regulations on food prices in Ukraine came into force on July 1.

Producers are no longer obliged to declare prices of food products and justify the need to change the prices to the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service.

Socially important staples earlier included flour, bread of simple compounding, domestic pasta from soft durum wheat, cereals, sugar, beef, pork with bones, poultry carcasses, cooked sausage, milk with a fat content of 2.5%, sour cream (20%), butter (72%), cottage (9%), chicken eggs, and vegetable oil.