ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Sulaimani mayor’s office announced on Monday that bread prices will remain the same following a hike in prices that caused worry among consumers.
“The representative of the bakeries and the worker's syndicate met with the mayor of Sulaimani and discussed the issue of the bakeries that are a result of price hikes of flour and fuel. It was decided that bread prices will remain the same - 1,000 ($0.68) dinars for eight pieces of bread,” the mayoral office said in a Facebook post.
Sulaimani bakers on Saturday raised the price of bread by 33 percent, selling six pieces for 1,000 dinars.
Bakers gathered in front of the worker's syndicate on Monday and warned in a press conference they will either close down the bakeries or reduce their prices.
“Raising the price of bread is very bad, it’s very dangerous. It’s true that everything is more expensive but the price of bread shouldn’t be raised,” said Chalak Rauf, head of the worker's syndicate.
“Their problems are the expensive fuel, the electricity, their problem is government taxes.”
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Soran Abdulghafour Aziz, who heads Sulaimani's Directorate of Trade Control, said that they are working to meet their demands to solve the issue.
“After some bakeries sold six pieces of bread for 1,000 dinars, all committees were told to visit those places...because we have warned them that we will not accept prices to be 1,000 dinars for six pieces in Sulaimani city. It should be 1,000 dinars for eight pieces,” Aziz told Rudaw.
According to Aziz, bakers have demanded private electricity, fuel and a possible reduction in taxes and custom fees. He said the directorate is in touch with the Ministry of Finance to get the custom fees removed.
"The increase of flour prices in the Kurdistan Region is mainly a result of the prices in Turkey where every ton has seen an increase of $100 to $150 ," Sulaimani’s Director of Trade Monitoring, Soran Abdulghafoor, said on Saturday.
The Kurdistan Region consumes 1.6 million tons of flour annually. Nearly one million tons are imported from Turkey, Iran, and Russia.
Additional reporting: Peshawa Bakhtyar, Horvan Rafaat
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