Skopje, 5 November 2022 (MIA) — Millers have announced a 10-percent drop in bread prices around New Year’s, welcoming the government's decision to subsidize their power bills. This will benefit both producers and consumers, bread industry representatives told MIA. However, as Economic Chamber of North Macedonia’s Group of Bakery and Mill Industry president Goran Malishikj pointed out, bread prices also depend on global wheat prices. “Depending on the manufacturer’s capacity, the retail prices of bread should go down by about 10 percent, of course provided global wheat and flour prices remain at this level,” Malishikj said. Vice president of the national Chambers of Commerce and head of its Agribusiness Chamber Goran Gjorgjievski, too, said global wheat prices were bound to influence local bread prices. The lower electricity prices for producers start Dec. 1, “so we expect a drop of 10 percent in retail prices at the end of the month or from the beginning of the next year,” he said. He added that the price drop, however, ”also depends on the movement of raw material prices.” “We are facing an unfavorable situation due to Russia's withdrawal from the agreement for transporting grain from Ukraine via the Black Sea, which is why the process has been stopped. This has already caused a rise in global prices,” the Agribusiness Chamber head said. He also said the government could cushion the price shocks by tapping the national wheat reserves. “This way, we could provide production inputs at appropriately low prices, and in turn achieve a lower price of the final product,” Gjorgjievski said. According to Malishikj, bread prices in North Macedonia are similar to those in the region. Local prices are only higher than those in countries that subsidize the bread industry – Serbia, for example. By contrast, he said, bread prices in the European Union ranged from 120 to 360 denars per loaf, depending on its weight. Malishikj said the government’s decision to lower the bread industry’s electricity bills to 80 euros per megawatt hour will stabilize production costs and help manufacturers raise their output to the levels before the price hikes. “With the decision, we have avoided the danger of another increase in prices,” he added. He also urged the government and Ministry of Agriculture to focus on helping the country become less dependent on wheat and flour imports by growing more crops. “The government can always introduce additional measures for the food industry to help the population and ease this economic situation we are in. This, however, also depends on the national budget,” the Group of Bakery and Mill Industry head said. mr/