Tunisia: an agreement reached on the settlement of the grain crisis

An agreement has been reached to replenish a chain of Tunisian non-state bakeries with flour, which is the beginning of a solution to the shortage of inexpensive bread that has worsened over the past two weeks, we learned on Sunday from industry sources.

There are two delivery schemes for bread. The first, consisting of 3,737 stores, receives flour on subsidies from the state. The second – “modern bakeries”, which includes 1500-2000 establishments that had the right until the beginning of August to a limited norm of this type of flour, for which they paid three times more.

After the August 7 sit-in in protest, following the August 1 decree depriving “modern bakeries” of subsidized flour to divert it to a semi-state network, they stopped receiving either flour or semolina from the state. centralizes all deliveries in Tunisia.

20,000 employees per floor

According to Salem Badri, president of the group of modern bakeries in Sfax, “90% of the 1,443 branches” of the group, which has about 20,000 employees, have been forced to close their doors. As a result, queues grew in front of subsidized bakeries, which became the only ones selling the famous “subsidized baguette” for 190 millimeters (6 cents).

“A decision has been made to resume the supply of flour and semolina to non-subsidized bakeries from August 19” following their commitment to “abide by laws regarding the production and sale of bread,” the Commerce Department said this Sunday.

In addition, according to Salem Badri, negotiations with the authorities will resume from this Monday to allow modern bakeries to resume production of subsidized bread, but “based on criteria set by President Qais Syed.” The president, who has had full power since the summer 2021 coup, fired the director of the Cereal Authority last week. The president of the federation of subsidized bakeries was arrested for “speculation”. Some parastatal bakeries are suspected of secretly selling their flour at low prices to modern day bakeries.

According to various economists, the grain crisis is primarily due to a shortage of cereals, because Tunisia, mired in debt and in need of cash, cannot buy enough on the international market. These difficulties were exacerbated by an unprecedented spring drought that destroyed the wheat crop, forcing the state to import 100% of its soft wheat needs in the coming months.