August the 23rd, 2024 – Croatian bread prices are far from immune to the price hikes and often unjustifiable increases. These constant comparisons to the EU average are resulting in many asking one simple question: Why?
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, this year, Croatia has bee faced an unusual situation on the grain market. Although the purchase price of wheat is almost stagnant, Croatian bread prices are constantly rising. The situation is especially frustrating for local farmers who are announcing a reduction in wheat acreage this autumn.
The Scandinavians eat the most expensive bread of all, while the Ukrainians and Russians eat the cheapest. Croatia is in the middle of the European ranking, but many people are still left scratching their hands as to why this is. Are we simply used to paying too much?
Matija Brlošić, a member of the Board of Directors of the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture, pointed out that wheat prices have fallen to the same level they were at 25 years ago, while Croatian bread prices have for some reason increased several times.
“Obviously, something has happened in the chain from the flour onwards, the costs have increased, but the question is whether they’ve really increased that much,” Brlošić told HRT.
Customers are also generally dissatisfied with the current situation. “Bread is definitely too expensive for me. As a pensioner, with the pension I have, it’s difficult to get by,” said Marija Narančić from Piškorevac, expressing her understandable concern about rising Croatian bread prices.
This year, wheat was harvested from approximately 138 thousand hectares, and it is estimated that between 850 and 900 thousand tonnes of it were produced. Although the area under wheat is smaller than last year, the harvest was better, with half of the production set to be exported. However, despite the drop in the price of wheat on the stock exchanges, bread prices in this country still remain high.
According to Tomislav Satler, the owner of a bakery from Osijek, rising Croatian bread prices is not only a consequence of the price of wheat. “Aside from raw materials, the price of labour, utilities, margarine, meat raw materials and oil have also increased significantly, from 20 to 30 percent,” explained Satler.
In addition, the high prices of bread are partly caused by the summer tourist season. Nada Barišić, the director of Žitozajednica, noted that the high demand during the tourist season also contributed to maintaining high Croatian bread prices. “Eurostat estimated that domestic bread prices are about 15 percent higher than the EU average,” says Barišić.
Zvjezdana Blažić, consultant for the food industry and agriculture, points out that cereal prices have fallen significantly since 2022, but adds that this does not necessarily lead to a drop in bread prices. “Cereals make up only about 20 percent of the bread calculation, while energy, labor and other raw materials make up the rest of the costs,” revealed Blažić.
Blažić also emphasised that, although tourism has affected prices, the consumption of special types of bread also contributes to the growth of the average price rage. He added that the price of fruit hasn’t increased significantly this year, while the price of vegetables has even fallen, but the prices in coastal markets are still twice as high as on the continent.
