Last week Tiger Brands claimed that rising wheat and fuel prices had lead the company to increase the price of their Albany bread by 40 cents.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister, Lulu Xingwana said she would meet with the bread-producers, as well as interested and affected parties, to discuss the escalating price of bread and ways of mitigating the impact of the problem.
The agriculture ministry is looking into ways of increasing local wheat production, strengthening cooperatives along the bread production value chain, and encouraging the establishment of local bakeries both in rural and township areas.
However, it acknowledged that high prices are also influenced by international factors.
Minister Xingwana voiced concerns that the escalating bread prices might have a negative impact on the price of food in general. This could impact on vulnerable groups to whom bread is a staple food.
“While government has zero rated the price of brown bread to make it more economical and affordable, especially to the poor, reports from the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) Food Price Monitoring Committee indicate a disturbing situation, reflecting very little price difference between white and brown bread,” the ministry said.
Xingwana, together with the NAMC and the Competition Commission, will monitor the measures put on the bread value chain and ensure that strict action is taken against any form of price manipulation which could result in the consumer being disadvantaged.
Last year Tiger Brands agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R98.8 million for contravening the Competition Act last year.
The company had been accused of unnecessarily inflating the price of bread.
An investigation found that meetings between certain Tiger Brands employees and some competitors had taken place amounting to anti-competitive activity.
Article published courtesy of BuaNews
