Bread, butter and veggies: The items getting more expensive in Austria
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Loading... - Patrik Krenn
- 18 May 2022
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The war in Ukraine and a ban on the export of wheat in India is driving up the cost of wheat flour around the world, with bakers in Austria warning they have no choice but to raise prices.
According to the Chamber of Commerce, there is also a paper shortage for packaging that is used for most baked goods, adding to further pressure on bakers.
Reinhard Honeder, Chairman of Bakers for the Chamber of Commerce, told ORF: “I believe that every colleague must raise their prices if they have not already done so.”
However, the rising cost of wheat flour is not expected to hit Austria as hard as other countries because Austria is “self-sufficient” when it comes to wheat, due to domestic agriculture capabilities.
Honeder says Austria has enough wheat to feed the population and believes this should stop baked goods from becoming unaffordable.
In Upper Austria, there are around 288,000 hectares of arable land and wheat is currently grown on almost 46,000 hectares, according to Agrarmarkt Austria.
However, global wheat production is forecast to be 774.8 million tonnes for 2022/2023, which is 4.5 million tonnes less than in 2021/2022.
Farmers are also being hit with rising costs for fertiliser and machinery, leading to ongoing increases in the global price of grain.
The cost of groceries (Lebensmittel) also on the rise in Austria
Bread isn’t the only staple food product that is becoming more expensive in Austria.
Der Standard reports that the cost of a bell pepper (Paprika), butter and tinned tomatoes are also rising sharply. Read More...
