Director of Association of Millers: Major Flour Shortages Possible

Although the limited price of basic foodstuffs, including flour, was bad enough for millers as it was, the Government of Serbia recently adopted a new decision, limiting the export of flour. The consequence of this decision, which is meaningless according to experts, is the stopping of the production of flour, due to the piling up of the stock, which is in danger of going to waste. Citizens are now facing not just price increases, but also major shortages.

The director of the business association of millers and dough factories “Zitounija”, Zdravko Sajatovic, said for the Nova.rs portal that the decision on stopping the production was quite expected, because the producers no longer had anyone to produce such quantities of flour for in the situation where the stock itself was in danger of going to waste due to being stored for too long at high temperatures.

However, buyers from abroad, Sajatovic says, have found a solution, buying flour from other suppliers, whereas Serbian millers are in an unenviable position.

When it comes to the market in Serbia and the consequences that the stopping of the production could cause, Sajatovic points out that what could happen is that the deliveries of certain flour types, such as the type 400, could be reduced, leading to shortages.

He explains that, at the moment, it is entirely unprofitable for millers to grind 100 kilograms of wheat in order to get 15 kilograms of that type of flour, because the price of wheat is currently too high.

Sajatovic assumes that the potential shortage could lead to a flour price increase at stores, but notes that that’s not the worst-case scenario.

– We shouldn’t worry about prices, we should worry about great shortages, because when they occur, it will be a direct consequence of the ban on exports, which is the fault of the government, and they probably don’t know themselves why they did it – Sajatovic says.

The agrarian analyst Zarko Galetin also believes that the decisions which have been made in the past few months have been harmful to the producers and that their dissatisfaction is fully expected.

According to him, the worst-case scenario for the citizens, but also for the authorities, would be shortages, which, unless the state takes concrete measures, are certain to happen.

Poslovno udruženje Žitounija

Žitounija

association of millers

Zdravko Šajatović

Žarko Galetin

flour flour shortages

wheat

millers

flour price increases