Mayawati govt makes Guj bakers eat bitter bread

Your daily bread may get a tad more expensive in Gujarat. With the Mayawati government tightening noose around sugar and yeast factories in Uttar Pradesh, bakeries in Gujarat are left gasping for breath.

Bakeries in the state have been witnessing a heavy shortage of yeast, used in preparing dough for bread, as yeast factories in UP have closed down operations temporarily following pollution control measures taken by the UP government.

This has resulted in a sharp rise in yeast prices. The Gujarat State Bakers Federation (GSBF) is planning a marginal hike in bread prices if the issue is not resolved.

Gujarat bakeries source the commodity from UP, the largest manufacturer in the country followed by Maharashtra. Yeast is a byproduct derived while manufacturing molasses from sugar and needs to be delivered within 4-5 days in dry or semi-solid form. Bakery owners here say there has been a delay and shortage in supply since early December.

"While a typical 5 kg box of yeast used to cost Rs 400, now it has risen three times to around Rs 1,200-1,500 per box. Our suppliers in UP have cited temporary shut down of operations as the reason for the supply shortage. With the UP government coming down heavily on them for discharging untreated residue, yeast manufacturers are now importing latest machines from Japan and are yet to install them. In the meantime, they are recovering their opportunity costs by charging higher prices," said Mustufa Shaikh, president, GSBF.

The federation, which manages 30-40 bakery associations in the state, will be holding a meeting in this regard and is likely to inform the state food and civil supplies department soon. To lessen the losses, the federation will be raising prices of bread by Re 1 per 400 gm packet initially.

If continued, the shortage might leave 80 per cent of the 10,000-odd bakeries in Gujarat sick and render around 300,000 jobless, said Pratapbhai Ahuja, co-owner of Popular Bakery.

The shortage has come at a time when demand for bread has been growing at a rate of 10-15 per cent, said Shaikh.

"Gujarat consumes roughly around 25,000 bags (90 kg per bag) of maida daily, with Ahmedabad itself consuming 4,000-odd bags. To add to our woes, even the margarine prices have been rising. While a 10 kg tin of margarine used to cost Rs 600, it is now priced at Rs 900 per tin. However, prices of a 90 kg bag of maida have been stable between Rs 1,250 and Rs 1,350 per bag," he added.

The bakery industry in India is the largest of food industry with an annual turnover of about Rs 4,000 crore. The unorganised sector accounts for about 70 per cent. The per capita consumption of bread in the country is 2 kg per annum.