Azerbaijan eyes allocating subsidies to flour producers

Recently, prices for wheat worldwide have risen in price, which causes concern in the Azerbaijani society in connection with the possible increase in the cost of flour products in the country.

On Sept. 14, some Azerbaijani producers raised the price of bread, which only increased concerns.

Arif Hasanov, director of one of the factories manufacturing flour products, told Report that the rise in the price of flour in Azerbaijan is not expected.

Moreover, the state plans to allocate subsidies for flour production, so there is no likelihood of an increase in flour prices, he said.

“Most likely, an appropriate decision will be made in the coming days. At the beginning of this year, the state had already allocated subsidies, but wheat prices rose sharply during this period. In this regard, an increase in the amount of subsidies is expected,” Hasanov noted.

He added that the Economy Ministry has recently held a meeting with flour producers regarding the provision of subsidies: “For about ten days ago, Minister Mikayil Jabbarov held a meeting in connection with this issue. We also attended it. Four-five days before that, a similar meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev. All these meetings were related to the issuance of subsidies to prevent price increases.”

Hasanov said that if flour doesn’t rise in price, the cost of bread will remain at the same level.

“Prices might have been raised by individual producers, but there hasn’t been a massive rise in the price of bread in the country,” he concluded.

Since Sept. 14, some producers in Azerbaijan have raised the price of bread by 5-10 qepiks.