Don't blame us for rise in bread prices - sugarmen

MANILA, Philippines –  Sugar is not the main factor that determines the price of bread.

This was the assertion of sugar producers who pointed out that by weight, sugar accounts

for only 15 percent to 16 percent of the weight of bread.

They said other inputs such as lard and flour comprise a greater percentage of the cost structure of producing bread.

The cost of LPG is also a factor, they added.

Archie Amarra, coordinator of the Sugar Master Plan Foundation, said a quick pencil pushing exercise would reveal the following.

The standard loaf of bread or Pan Americano (550 grams) produced by a small bakery contains about 0.083 kilograms of sugar or a ratio of one kilogram sugar to produce

a batch of 12 loaves.

At the previous price of washed sugar of P53 per kilogram retail, this translates to a P4.40 per loaf sugar content.

Even assuming a 19 percent increase in the price of sugar (translating to a P10 increase), the sugar content of each loaf rises to P5.23 or an increase of only P0.83 per loaf.

This, Amarra said, is certainly no justification for any clamor for substantial increases in the selling prices of the loaf of bread.

For the typical “pandesal”, 3.25 kilograms of sugar is used to produce 20.48 kilograms of the bread.

At 25 grams per piece, the bakery produces 819 pieces per batch. Each piece, Amarra said, therefore, contains about 0.004 kilograms of sugar.

At the old price of P53 per kilogram – washed sugar, this translates into a sugar content of P0.212 per piece of pandesal.

Even assuming a 19 percent rise in the price of sugar (P53 to P63), the sugar content increases by only four centavos to P0.252 per piece.

Sugar producers are appealing to bakers’ association not to blame the sugar sector for the increase in the price of bread.

Amarra lamented the fact that the high cost of sugar is being used by some bakery associations as an excuse to increase the price of loaf bread and pandesal.