Cost of bread and baked goods set to increase in Seychelles, say bakery owners

Lailam bakery reopened last year and has maintained affordable prices for bread and other baked goods. (Seychelles Nation)

With a rise in the cost of flour and other ingredients needed for baking, some bakeries in Seychelles will be increasing the prices of their goods.

The potential increase in the cost of certain baked goods comes after Seychelles experienced a shortage of flour earlier in the year.

The Seychelles Trading Company (STC), a state-owned importer, said in a recent press conference that this was because a shipment from Mauritius which was hit by a cyclone was unable to arrive in the country on time.

When announcing the arrival of flour in the country, STC said there will be no increases in prices as it is absorbing the additional costs. It added that to prevent an increase in the price of bread, the flour will be sold wholesale to bakeries at cost price.

Murielle Dewals, owner of Ma Boulangerie located at the ex-children's playground, told SNA that "we will definitely have to increase our prices as we are not getting a break anywhere."

Dewals said that Ma Boulangerie also bake specialty goods such as diabetic and Scandinavian bread. ( Joe Laurence, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

She said that in addition to the cost of flour going up by 15 percent in Europe, the same applies to Dubai and Turkey, and "this time I even had to pay the extra cost of flying the flour in."

Dewals explained that she was able to procure some flour from Reunion Island, costing her company 900 Euros in freight costs alone.

"STC imports the white flour most bakeries in the country use, but we also bake specialty goods such as diabetic and Scandinavian bread," she explained.

The special flour used in baking is also taxed once it lands in Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean.

Patricia Lai Lam, owner of Lailam bakery on Benezet Street in Victoria, told SNA that she will have to increase the price of their goods as "the butter, oil sugar and all other ingredients we use on a daily basis have increased."

Lailam bakery, one of the oldest bakeries in the Seychelles, reopened last year and has maintained affordable prices for bread and other baked goods.

"We are not sure yet by how much we will have to increase our prices and when we will do so. We are waiting to see what happens," she said.

STC said that it has bought enough flour to last for three months and was looking for adequate storage facilities for the latest consignment.

However, financial officials have warned that the ongoing conflict because Russia and Ukraine may affect global prices and since Seychelles relies on importation this may affect prices.