Belize: Flour shortage forces closure of bakeries

Belmopan / BZ. (wib) Coming on the heels of rice shortage and the recent price hike in that food staple, Belizeans endured another flour shortage this days, and this story could end just about the same way the rice story did – with higher prices for a loaf of bread: from 1,50 Belizean Dollar (BZD) to 2,00 BZD, if bakers get the Government to agree to the increase. This time it´s not smugglers that are being blamed for hoarding flour for profitable sale abroad. Several sources who purchase and sell flour told Belizean newspapers that ADM Belize Mills Ltd. has not been producing flour because it has no wheat. The shipment of US wheat was stuck in Guatemala because of bad weather. Other sources say, 300 tonnes are presently stuck at the Belize Guatemala border, because they require special paperwork (they do not have …).

Belize Bakers Association (which has 36 members) told the newspapers that as many as twelve bakeries had to close their doors because they cannot purchase wholesale flour to make bread and other bakery products. Belize´s most venerable baker Zebedee Pitterson says that the bakers need a 0,25 to 0,50 BZD increase. When Government last increased the controlled price of flour in mid-April it negotiated a deal with Belize Mills and bakers were able to purchase a sack of flour at a discounted price of 61 BZD.

Today Belize Mills says it can no longer sell flour at the special price because it has done it at a loss. Belize Bakers Association says the Government has given the association a one-week permit to import flour either from Mexico or Guatemala, but if bakeries do so, they will have to purchase the flour for anywhere from 85 BZD to 110 BZD for a hundred-pound sack (50 kilograms). And while they don´t expect that this hefty price tag will immediately affect the price of bread, insiders are informed that bakers will lobby for a price increase of 50 cents for the standard 16-ounce loaf.

P.S.: ADM Belize Mills Ltd., based in Belize City, is a subsidiary of ADM Milling – the US-American agro-giant Archer Daniels Midland Company (Decatur / IL).