Of wheat and bread

Looks like I've got to pay more for my bread soon. With everything, from hawker food to petrol, going up in prices - and my pay playing catchup - I thought bread would remain as one of the more affordable food products.

Malaysia is the second largest wheat consumer in South East Asia and is now facing a problem with the rising wheat prices worldwide - as a result of drought in Canada and Australia.

It seems that it's inevitable that food sutff, which Malaysians enjoy - such as noodles, cakes, roti canai, thosai - and bread - would see a hike in its prices soon, albeit temporarily.

The bakery community is already looking to raise the prices - pending a meeting/discussion with the government. According to this piece of news:

Bakery Manufacturers Association president Mashood Wahab said 60% of items produced at bakeries were white bread, with the remaining products being high-fibre, wholemeal and buns which were not price-controlled [...]

According to statistics, Malaysia imports about 1.2 million tonnes of the grain a year. Mashood said the association would meet Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry officials next week to find a solution [...]

With the Chinese New Year celebrations in just a few months time, it would be interesting to see if the government would raise the price caps of these items before then. But if an appropriate compromise or solution is not reached soon, wheat millers and bakeries alike could be in trouble - since it would be too expensive to produce wheat and wheat related products.

I guess there is no escaping it this time. Let's hope the shortage of wheat worldwide is not too severe and that things will balance out in the coming year. Any price increase in wheat will drive up inflation - just that in my opinion, pay increments in the private sector (in Malaysia) does not seem to be inline with the "actual" inflation rates.

Related news: Malaysia at risk of flour shortage