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| Saturday, 9 October 2004 |
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Price of bread to be controlled by Uditha Kumarasinghe The price of bread will be controlled soon. A spokesman for the Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry told the Daily News yesterday that Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle had taken this decision as another measure of easing the cost of living burden of consumers. The Minister will be meeting bakery owners shortly at which he will announce his view to maintain the price of 450g of a loaf of bread at Rs.13. Due to different prices and weights of the same kind of bread, consumers have faced hardships in buy bread from various outlets. Minister Fernandopulle has therefore decided to introduce a controlled price for bread after discussions with bakery owners, he said. Meanwhile, Fernandopulle has already discussed with several Indian companies to import wheat flour from India to provide flour to bakery owners at concessionary rates. The Trade Ministry will import the wheat flour, which will be distributed to co-operatives for distribution among bakery owners, he said. According to this price control system, bakery owners will be responsible for providing bread to consumers at these prices. The Ministry will take legal action against errant bakery owners who violate these rules and regulations in the bakery trade, he said. At present there is no standard for bread sold in the market. Although a normal loaf of bread should weigh 450 grammes, 95 per cent of bakery owners have failed to maintain this required weight. Most bakery owners have reduced the weight to 300g-350g and sell a loaf at Rs.15. In addition, attempts are being made by bakery owners to reduce bread production and increase the prices of bread based on a purported dearth of wheat flour. The Minister will discuss all these issues with bakery operators to safeguard both the bakery owners and consumers by bringing down the price of bread. At most outlets, a 540g sliced bread is sold at Rs.46, 500 g sliced bread at Rs.37 and 400g sliced bread at Rs.20. These prices, weights and the quality vary from outlet to outlet. The Ministry has thus decided to control the price of bread considering it as an essential commodity, he said. |
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