WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-01-10 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[We have to find an index to monitor this ourselves. But, as per Adriana’s predictions, which we need to put into a more solid and measureable format, we need to monitor food prices in SA. Jan]
While consumer groups and unions have lamented the rising cost of basic foods, major bakeries have confirmed that bread will cost about 40c more a loaf from Monday. Both Albany bakery and Sasko Duens have confirmed.
And Blue Ribbon bakery, which the Competition Commission found had colluded with the other two bakeries in fixing bread prices in 2006, is “still doing research regarding the extent to which prices will increase”, said Steven Mallach, corporate affairs manager of Premier Foods, owners of the bakery.
“The bread price will be going up, it is inevitable. Input costs have gone up remarkably, and all these costs have to be factored in,” he said.
Prices would probably increase “within the next two weeks to a month”, Mallach added.
Although prices had not gone down after the price-fixing debacle, he said he could assure consumers that there was now “no artificial inflation” in the price of bread.
Thabi Segoale, managing executive in charge of the grains division at Tiger Brands, owners of Albany, blamed higher costs of wheat and shipping for the price increase.
Segoale said on Tuesday the average increase would be 40c for both brown and white bread, and would start on Monday.
Sasko Duens confirmed that it too was raising its loaf prices by 40c on Monday.
Wheat prices had risen from about R2 200 a ton last year this time to the current R3 100 a ton, said Segoale.
“Because South Africa is a net importer of wheat, our prices are determined by international prices.”
Supply and demand also played a major role, with wheat being in short supply world-wide, he added.
“We have come out of a season of drought in Australia and the European Union, so supply capacity around the world was under quite a bit of pressure against a very buoyant demand.”
Shipping costs had also increased dramatically because of ever-rising crude oil prices, said Segoale.
On Tuesday, the Black Sash greeted the pending increase with dismay and the chairperson of the National Consumer Forum called for support for smaller bakeries.
Forum chairperson Bolani Thami said competition will prevent high increases in the price of bread.
He called on the government to remove VAT on white bread and white bread flour, saying that would immediately bring the price down for consumers.
Congress of South African Trade Unions spokesperson Patrick Craven said they are calling for an investigation into rising costs of staple food items.
“We have called for a broader investigation into the possibility of price-fixing after Tiger Brands was found guilty of fixing the price of bread; this could be a problem with other essential food items. When it comes to negotiating wages next year, we will consider increases that affect the living standards of our members,” said Craven.