Bakeries in Macedonia are threatening to stop production after the Government warned that it will limit the prices at which they can sell bread. The Government is angry that some food producers took subsidies for the extremely high electricity prices they were sent, but didn’t respond by reducing prices. Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi said that he will limit the price of bread to 30 denars per loaf (0.5 EUR).

We have determined that the energy subsidies had a positive effect and reduced bread prices, even more than the proportion of the energy cost to the cost of production. There already are breads on the market that sell for 33 to 35 denars. But the baking industry, at a meeting that included 32 industrial bakeries, determined that we don’t accept a freeze on our prices, and we unanimously decided to stop production the day when the Government order goes into effect, said Goran Malisic, head of the chamber of industrial bakers in the SKM chamber of commerce.

Malisic pointed to other costs that go into the price of bread, such as oil and labour, which continue to go up.