Hanine Bouguerra would never have imagined finding herself in this situation when, in 2019, she opened their first bakery and pastry shop with her brother. “modern bakery” in Nefta, his hometown located in the southwest of Tunisia. For two weeks, his craft business has been completely at a standstill after the Ministry of Commerce made the sudden decision on Tuesday 1er August, to suspend the supply of flour, a commodity that has become precious and of which the State has a monopoly and controls the distribution quotas, for bakeries that are not subsidized or qualified as “modern”.
Hanine is not the only one in this situation. Following the sending of a simple fax by the Ministry of Commerce to the various flour mills in the country, nearly 1,500 unsubsidized bakeries found themselves deprived of the main raw material necessary for their activity: flour.
This commodity, which has become rare, is sold and rationed by the State according to two distinct circuits: on the one hand, the fully subsidized traditional bakeries, which acquire the flour at a symbolic price and theoretically accompanied by additional compensation from the State (which the latter has not paid for more than a year); on the other hand, bakeries “modern” who buy a so-called flour “special”partially subsidized, and which costs three times as much.
Affiliated to two different employers’ unions, the subsidized and non-subsidized bakers have been engaged for several months in a merciless war, blaming each other for the bread crisis, despite the state having a monopoly on it. This crisis, which is only getting worse over the months, is regularly discussed in the media, with almost daily justifications from senior state officials. A fiery statement by Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed, pointing the finger at modern bakeries and the prices applied to unsubsidized bread sticks, now jeopardizes the 1,500 businesses concerned as well as the jobs of some 20,000 workers.
“One bread for Tunisians”
Referring to a beylical decree dated January 1956, Kaïs Saïed defended the idea of“a single bread for Tunisians. Final point “accusing these new bakeries formed after 2011 of speculation on subsidized flour to which they do not yet have access. “We must take urgent action to end these differences. There cannot be one bread for the poor and one bread for the rich. »
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