Russia’s most popular type of bread, the sliced white loaf, may disappear from supermarket shelves if the government implements strict price controls on common food items, the proprietor of the nation’s largest bakery and confectionery conglomerate warned on Monday.
This statement follows Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s announcement in March that the government is ready to take the “toughest measures” to combat food inflation. He specifically highlighted that regional authorities have the authority to impose limits on markups for essential food products, which saw their steepest price increase in nine years last year and continue to rise.
Alexei Tulupov, head of the Kolomensky bakery, informed the RBC news website that imposing price ceilings on bread could drive bakeries to bankruptcy, diminish the variety of bread options, or lead to the introduction of alternative products.
He noted that government regulation of egg prices resulted in the emergence of a less expensive, lower-quality liquid egg product.
“If similar regulations are applied to bread, sliced loaves could quickly vanish from the market,” he stated.
Data from the state statistics agency, Rosstat, reveals that the price of wheat bread surged by 14.6% last year, which is 1.5 times faster than the overall inflation rate set by the government at 9.5%.
Additionally, bread prices increased by another 6.2% between January and May 2025.
Since the escalation of hostilities in Ukraine in February 2022, bread prices have risen by over 35%.
Production costs for bread also climbed by an average of 27% in 2024, according to Dmitry Semenov, president of the Russian Bakers Union.
“Current interest rates make financing prohibitively expensive; bakeries need to maintain high profit margins to manage such debts, yet they operate on tight margins,” he remarked, referring to the Central Bank’s key rate of 20%.
Semenov also mentioned that workforce shortages are reaching up to 40% at certain companies.
Tulupov identified raw materials, wages, and logistics as the main cost components for bread producers.
“Logistical costs are at least as high, if not higher than, those for flour,” Tulupov explained to RBC.
These costs are intensified by the short shelf life of bread, necessitating prompt delivery to retailers.
In March, leading bread manufacturers notified retail chains of a forthcoming 10 to 12% hike in wholesale prices, as reported by major bread producers cited by the Vedomosti business daily.
Producers attributed the price increases to rising warehouse and transportation expenses, increased tax burdens, and a spike in flour prices following last year’s poor harvest as the primary reasons behind the price surges.
