The price of flour has grown by 35-50 for one kilo. Now the price of one kilo of flour is 280-300 instead of the previous 210-250 drams.
The importers of grain allege that the prices in the world market have grown, thus they have to increase the prices too. They say that the price of grain has grown to the maximum peak of these past 13 months. For example in the stock market of Chicago the price of grain grew by 8,3% during one week. In June of last year in the stock market of Chicago 27,2 kilos of grain was bought for $4,4, and in two months the price grew almost twice reaching $8,12. Experts say the reason of such growth of the prices for grain is the bad weather conditions in the countries that are exporting grain – Russia, Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. The head of a large importer of grain Manana Grain company Gurgen Nikoghosyan said during our phone conversation that they import grain with higher prices, which has resulted in the increase of the prices for flour. According to G.Nikoghosyan, the prices have been raised by the suppliers. Currently one can buy one ton of grain from the port of Poti for $415 instead of the $200 of last year. The transportation prices from Russia to the port in Georgia have been increased as well. Nikoghosyan says that one sack of flour costs AMD11.253 now instead of the 7500 before that. Currently Armenia is importing grain mainly from Kazakhstan. It is much harder to import grain from Russia and Ukraine. In addition, last year the Russian government banned the export of grain from the country till December 31, 2010. The reason was the fire last summer which spoilt most of the harvest of grain. There are some tendencies marking the growth of the prices. We visited some supermarkets and shops. In supermarkets we were told that the prices were the same and would not be increased in the near future either. However, in small shops the prices had been increased. In some shops the prices have grown by 10-20 drams already. A shop salesman says that when they ask the suppliers why the price is higher now they say that the suppliers have increased the price of grain and flour. “In several days the price of bread will grow; you will see how expensive the bread will be,” said the salesman. Experts say that the quality of bread will be worse too because the producers will use more additional materials to make it cheaper for them. “The sector is in the hands of illiterate people. The quality of bad is not good. We have three unions of consumers but they are not doing a good job. Armenia does not import grain for dark or black bread. Currently the producers color the grain with chemical materials and produce black bread,” said expert A.Selimyan and added that the bread we are buying in shops now is dangerous for health. She believes the quality of Lavash (Armenian thin bread) has been spoilt too. “There are types of lavash that are advertised as dietetic. This is the most dangerous thing. This means that it is made with starch. If you remember, we used to use the starch for making glue for wall posters. Now you can imagine what we eat in fact,” said A.Selimyan. She says that during the recent years the number of people with diabetes gas grown by 30% in our society. One of the reasons is the bad quality of bread too.