Not just the bills: more expensive flours for over a year, the bakeries can’t hold up

The price of bread has already been raised at the end of last year. “We use all the tricks to lower production costs”

BELLUNO. Electricity bills tripled in one year. But there is not only that: the price of flour has increased three times since last year, the cost of butter has skyrocketed. “My supplier advised me to shop for jams that will increase a lot from September, and sugar production is also in danger”, he says. Sabrina Bernardi who has headed the company founded by his father Aldo since 2011. The bakery sector is dealing (in blood red) with the perfect storm that is hitting Europe and that seems to have the worst effects on Italy. And it is generally believed that the war in Ukraine has little to do with the raw materials and energy crisis that started much earlier, already last year.

“The cost of flour,” he explains Furio Balbinot who took over the company with his brother in 1990, the fourth generation of bakers, «began to rise a year ago. They explained to us that it was the result of bad harvests in Canada and the United States ”. The increases have continued for a year and now it appears to have stopped. But everything else is running. Starting precisely with electricity.

Roberto Battaglia, from Santo Stefano di Cadore, is the provincial president of Confcommercio bakers. Worried? Much. Angry? Quite a lot of. “My energy bill in July was 5,400 euros. A crazy thing that has no market explanation: the reserves are there, this is all speculation ». A year ago, in July 2021, the bill was 1,400 euros. “Raw materials have increased by 30-40 percent in the last year. Faced with this, the company’s accounts are struggling to return if no increases are implemented. In early January the price of bread went up by 30 percent, now we will have to decide what to do, whether to increase again. Either you increase or you risk closing ». His company has four employees: «The whole category is on the gas barrel. We are artisans, people who want to work, who want to live off of him. We are ready to make other sacrifices, but there is a limit to everything. In one year I paid 15,000 euros more for electricity, which is my one year’s earnings. And I’m just talking about electricity. How do you think we can go on? It is filth: they are stealing billions, they are stock-picking, which is a crime ».

It is not just an Italian problem, of course, but here it seems to be much more serious. «We have more than 11 euros for pellets, while in Austria they still pay 5.6 euros. And they don’t sell it to Italians: to buy it you have to present an identity card with residence in Austria. But aren’t we all in Europe? And isn’t there a free market? ».

The electricity bill of the Bernardi company is also high, but a little less than the others: «The bill in July is two and a half times that of last year. This is because we made a choice, that of removing the frozen foods from the Bolzano Bellunese store, where we also have the production. And so we managed to contain the increase a little ». In its shops (also in Piazza Piloni and in via Ceccati in Baldenich) bread had a price increase at the end of 2021, when there had already been the first increases in raw material prices. At the moment, explains Sabrina Bernardi, no other increases are planned: “We live for the day, we see what happens, hoping for the best”. Thirteen work in the company: “We are looking for tricks to reduce production costs, removing products that have higher costs, suspending some services, trying to make ends meet”. The specter is also the contraction in consumption, in the face of increases affecting families and the need to make it to the end of the month. “Many choose the discount instead of the local shop, to the detriment of quality. In the meantime, we work seven days a week, even 14 hours a day. It makes you cry to see what is happening ».

Furio Balbinot of employees, between shops and production site, has over 25. The increase in the cost of flour had caused a rise in the price of bread already at the end of 2021, then a more substantial one at the end of February. “Now we are waiting, let’s try to understand what the market trend will be”. The expensive energy and the expensive raw materials affects all small traders and artisans, not just bakers.

“There are electricity suppliers who had stipulated contracts with a fixed quota,” he explains Francesco De Toffol of Confcommercio, “who are sending cancellations to their customers and who want to re-discuss the contracts. Among other things, the energy sector is a real jungle and it is not easy to understand what to do. Our associates, hoteliers, nutritionists, bakers, are wondering how to get around. We have been interested in all levels of politics for months to ask for strategies and solutions. The economic categories are in great turmoil, there are activities that will not have economic sustainability for the winter. There may also be a need for an extraordinary layoff ”.