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By Nihal Zaroug and Seraj Essul.
Tripoli, 3 June 2013:
Tripoli is experiencing a severe shortage of fresh bread because bakers have shut . . .[restrict]down their ovens in protest at the uneven distribution of state-subsidised flour, which some claim could drive them out of business.
Fawanese, the capital’s large and popular central bakery, has indeed been shut since yesterday along with several other outlets in the city. However some bakeries are still working.
Souk Al-Juma baker Eesa Ageela today told the Libya Herald: “The strike will not finish until until we get flour from the government.”
He said that the subsidised flour which costs LD 3.75 a bag is not being distributed in relation the individual requirements of each baker. While some busy bakeries were receiving only 25 to 30 tons per month, others, some of which he said were new businesses, were getting between 50 and 60 tons. The allegation is that what is not used in their own baking is sold on the black market at around LD 25 a bag.
“The monthly amount that we receive now keeps us going only for few days” said Ageela, “and we have cut down our production and make loafs smaller. We run out of flour within 10-15 days, so we have to buy more from the black market”.
However, he said that he could not afford to pay these prices and buy oil, yeast and sugar. At the controlled price of bread at the counter, he was selling loaves at a loss.
Speaking on Alassema TV, another local baker, Yousef Abdsalam, said he buys 30 tons of flour from the government, but needed an additional 40 tons, which he buys from other sources at a much higher cost. Abdasalam, also complained there was no justice in the rationing of the flour sold by the government.
Mohamed Al-Gadar at the Ministry of Economy, explained that the ration of flour distributed by the ministry, is enough for 38 loafs of bread per person per day. He added that the flour allocated to the bakeries was for making loafs and not other baked goods, nor to be sold on the black market.
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