HARARE – The National Bakers Association of Zimbabwe (NBAZ) has warned that plans to increase the price of bread flour will push the retail price of bread above the symbolic US$1 mark, worsening the cost of living crisis for millions of urban households.
In a letter to industry and commerce minister Mangaliso Ndlovu dated October 24, NBAZ president Elvis Ncube said bakers were alarmed by a proposal from the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) to raise the cost of bread flour by four percent.
Ncube said flour already accounts for about 43 percent of total bread production costs, and the proposed hike would immediately add two cents to the cost of producing each loaf, forcing a corresponding increase in the wholesale price.
“The sector does not have the capacity to absorb any further increases in input costs without compromising business viability,” Ncube wrote.
“If a four percent increase in bread flour is permitted, it will translate to a two-cent rise per loaf, effective the same day the flour price goes up.”
Bread is Zimbabwe’s second most important food item after maize meal, used to cook sadza/isitshwala, and serves as a daily staple in most urban homes.
The bakers’ association said since January 2024, the industry had absorbed significant cost pressures — particularly following the government’s decision to reclassify bread from zero-rated to tax-exempt under value-added tax (VAT) rules. That change prevented bakers from claiming VAT refunds on inputs, eroding already thin margins.
Despite rising costs of fuel, packaging, electricity, and distribution, Ncube noted, bakers had kept the wholesale bread price unchanged for most of 2024 and 2025.
The latest flour price proposal, he warned, would trigger a five-cent pass-through effect per loaf at retail level, likely pushing the price of bread above the US$1 threshold from November 1, 2025.
“We remain hopeful that the undesirable effects of such an increase can still be averted,” Ncube said, appealing to the government to intervene.
If approved, the flour price hike would mark another blow for consumers already grappling with rising prices of basics and frequent currency volatility.
Source: ZimLive
