Food prices have skyrocketed in Croatia, with a kilo of bread costing as much as a kilo of pork and seeded bread selling at 6 euros. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Serbia, the price of bread is stable, and pork has become cheaper thanks to the government's measures. Serbia's finance minister expects inflation to decline.

Six euros for a kilo of bread

Food prices are steadily increasing in Croatia. Bread has seen the steepest rise in price, with a larger wholemeal loaf costing 6 euros. By comparison, a kilo of pork fillet is half a euro cheaper, selling at 5.50 euros. Bacon is sold for about the same price while meat for stew costs a little less, the Croatian Jutarnji Listre writes, citing B92.

Photo: Pixabay

A loaf of yeast-free bread weighing 400 grams costs 20 kuna (almost 3 euros) in one of Croatia’s largest store chains, meaning that a kilo costs 50 kuna (more than 6 euros), and the price of seeded bread is just about the same. This type of bread is pricey even though it is not an imported product but produced locally and wheat is bought from Croatian farmers at a low price, producers complain.

One of the large bakeries told the Croatian paper that bakers cannot take the blame for the margins shops use, noting that the bakeries have also incurred higher expenses.

„Everything has become more expensive, the grains we use, packaging, transport and energy. We were forced to increase the price of various types of bread,”

the baker said.

The kilo-price of the bread in question was slightly more than 4 euros before the price hikes.

As prices of ingredients go up, bread becomes more expensive

The price of bread is climbing because the purchase price of wheat has increased by 1 kuna per kilo, i.e. 14 euro cents compared to last year, Nada Barisic, the director of a cereals trading company said, adding that people can still find cheaper types of bread on the shelves. He cited half-brown bread as an example, which costs 1.30 euros a kilogram. He said that people are able to pay that price.

„In the case of specialty breads, the problem is that the price of ingredients necessary for their production have increased, including the price of vegetable oils,”

the director said, adding that Croatian bakers are facing huge problems due to the steep production costs.

Serbia’s finance minister expects inflation to stabilise

The situation is completely different in the neighbouring Serbia, where the price of bread has been capped by the government. The cheapest type of bread, Sava, costs 49 dinars, or 40 eurocents, and even the most expensive one is sold for less than 1.5 euros. The Belgrade government has also put a price stop on meat. Pork leg has been at a capped price since last year, while the prices of shoulder, rib and loin have been maximised since mid-July of this year. With the regulation of meat prices the government has managed to reduce the former per kilo prices by 1 euro on average. Without the caps, these products would currently cost 4.5-6 euros in supermarkets. The cabinet has maximised the profit margin on poultry at 10 per cent, which also resulted in a decrease in retail prices.

Photo: Pixabay

Presumably, this is why the finance minister of the Balkan country expects that the rate of inflation will decrease in the near future.

„The Serbian National Bank expects the inflation to stop increasing or even decrease in the next few months. The same is expected in other European countries. I hope it will be so,”

Sinisa Mali told the Serbian state news agency Tanjug.

The annual inflation rate was 11.9 per cent in June in the Balkan country. The Serbian cabinet is battling currency depreciation not only by capping basic food prices, but also by tightening the prices of fuel and energy. These prices would skyrocket without the restrictions, as can be seen in developed Western countries, FM Mali said.