In France, the price of baguette bread has increased since last year. Bakers have no choice in the face of rising raw material and energy prices. Because professionals are cutting back on their margins, the rise remains contained.
The price of raw materials and energy has increased considerably in France, and even throughout Europe. This increase has an impact in many sectors of the economy, including baking. As a result, the price of the baguette has also increased. Last June, its average price was 0.93 euros, or 0.4 euros more than in June 2021 according to INSEE, reports BFM TV.
The BFM Business trolley confirms this trend: during the first week from August 2022the baguette tradition sold on average 0.89 euro in the supermarket, an increase of 6% compared to the last week of July. But this increase remains under control, in particular thanks to the efforts of bakers.
Cutting back on margins to spare consumers
If we had to pass on the increases to prices, there would be increases of 30%, explains Dominique Anract, president of the National Bakery and Pastry Confederation. All items increased: raw materials, energy and packaging. Finally, it is a quite reasonable increase.
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But how do bakers manage to limit the rise in prices? They trim their margins, quite simply. This is what worries Dominique Anract, for whom this situation is a real time bomb for the sector. Indeed, price trends are not going to go down in the coming months.
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The Confederation therefore appealed to the state. She request that aid be put in place for the sector. One idea would be to support bakers in replacing ovens, many of which still run on gas and oil in France. More ecological and less energy-consuming models would make it possible to achieve significant savings.