BAKERIES warned yesterday that the price of bread will be increased shortly. A spokeswoman for the Irish Bread Bakers' Association said the latest rise in flour prices of approximately £12 per tonne would force bakers to increase their prices.
However, Mr Feargal Quinn, chief executive of Superquinn, said last night that he had never seen the Irish bread industry so competitive, and price increases could not be easily passed on to the consumer. Any attempt to secure a price increase will provoke "quite a row," according to Mr Quinn.
Consumers had demonstrated that they were quite fickle in their loyalty to individual brands of bread, Mr Quinn added, making it even more difficult to pass on increases.
The Irish Bread Bakers Association said yesterday that over the past two years bakers had seen considerable increases in their raw materials, with price rises in flour, yeast and packaging. The retail price of bread did not reflect these increases, the association claimed.
The association's spokeswoman said that bakers had been suffering as increases in costs had been absorbed over the past two years and that this could not be sustained. A price increase will almost certainly ensue."