After crowds queued outside of bakeries across the country for bundles of bread last weekend, Lebanese officials announced that there is no fear of a lurking bread shortage in Lebanon.
On Saturday evening, the Minister of Economy and Trade Raoul Nehme tweeted, “We have a large stock of wheat and flour, and therefore there is no bread shortage crisis, and we call on citizens not to rush to bakeries.”
On Saturday, pictures of people lined up outside of Chamsine Bakery stirred panic and confusion among the citizens as fears of a shortage of bread rose.
Apparently, Chamsine Bakery declared that it would not distribute bread to local supermarkets and shops, and only sell it in the bakery, which was misconstrued by the people as a bread crisis.
In addition, local news agencies and social media announced that the price of a 900gr bag of bread reached 2,500 LL, versus its original price of 1,000 LL.
The fear of a bread crisis is not baseless. The country’s crises continue, and discussions of a shortage of wheat, among other shortages and the smuggling of essentials into Syria, have been open-ended.
Furthermore, Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad created a poll on Twitter to see people’s opinions on using excess potatoes as a supplement for traditional wheat flour.
Apparently, it has been also misunderstood by many as a preparation by the state to tackle a lurking bread crisis.
However, the officials are assuring that it isn’t the case. The head of the Union of Bakeries Syndicate just declared that there is no bread crisis in Lebanon, according to LBCI News.
The union added that it is presenting a set of solutions to the Minister of Economy and Trade regarding the increasing production cost of bread.
One of the solutions may be to raise the price of a bundle of bread.
Basic commodities in Lebanon are becoming a luxury for some too many people as the Lebanese lira continues to take a plunge.
