Executive to lend almost 28,000 tonnes of wheat to Moldovan bakeries

On February 6 government decided that it will lend 27,900 tonnes of wheat from the state reserve to bakeries, Info-Prim Neo reports.

«The market prices of wheat and flour have increased and the local authorities warn the bakeries are close to raising prices,» Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov said when presenting the draft decision.

The bakeries will be able to borrow the quantity of wheat that will enable them to maintain bread prices. They will return the wheat into the state reserve from the new harvest, by September 1, 2013.

«We already have requests for over 9,000 tonnes. The bakeries will be able to purchase the amount of wheat that will not be borrowed, paying in advance,» said the minister.

The price of wheat on the home market has increased by about 20% this year so far, from 3,500 lei to 4,200 lei a tonne. The price of flour rose from 5,000 lei to 6,000 lei a tonne. Specialists said this is due to the low wheat harvests obtained in 2012 and the rise in the VAT from 8% to 20% on January 1, 2013. The wheat prices also went up at regional commodity exchanges, where a tonne of wheat is sold for US$340.

Adapted from Allmoldova