Price of flour set to cost a lot more dough

Friday, 25 March 2022

Getting your hands on flour won’t be the issue soon, it will be the price, as current events continue to affect the cost of everyday grocery items.

The price of flour is set to rise, and some stockists are already having to pass on the price increase.

It was one of the first items to clear the shelves in the 2019 lockdown, and since then, bags of flour have been a commodity to keep stocked in the pantry.

But as grocery bills increase, the wheat product is following suit.

A 10 kilogram bag of bakers flour from a Nelson wholesale food store cost $12.90 in December 2021. That same flour has gone up 32 per cent, now costing $17.10, and sources say the price will go up again.

Keith Simmonds, 93, has earned the right to enjoy his retirement, but instead he’s counting his pennies as the cost of living continues to balloon.

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Flour Millers Association secretary Andy Worrill said the price of flour and other wheat-based products was “potentially going to increase some more, but it just depends on the world wheat supply situation”.

He said there were a few reasons why wheat prices had increased, including freight costs and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A significant amount of the world’s milling wheat was supplied by Ukraine and Russia, he said, but the war had seen many countries looking elsewhere for their wheat, including Australia, where New Zealand sourced most of its wheat to produce flour.

“Increase in demand, reduced supply, prices goes up – economics 101. It’s imported inflation, that’s the bottom line.”

He said transport prices had also “come back with a vengeance”.

A large amount of the world’s milling wheat supply comes from Ukraine and Russia, but as the war continues, countries look to the same supplier New Zealand uses, Australia – putting pressure on supply and increasing the price.

Flour milling companies couldn’t absorb the price increase, he said, “it has to be passed on”.

Meanwhile, New Zealand grown wheat in the South Island had experienced a bad year, he said.

The harvest in Canterbury had been poor due to weather conditions, seeing the wheat “not up to standard”, Worrill said, and being diverted to feed wheat.

But there’s no need to hoard flour.

Stepping into the Daily Bread kitchen, one is overcome with the spicy scent of the very best hot cross buns in the country.

He said there wouldn’t be a shortage.

“It’s just going to be a supply and demand price equation and the price has to be paid if you want to get it in here.”

And he said it was “hard to predict where the price of wheat will go”.

“Just have to wait and see.”

Countdown online shopping currently has the Woolworths brand 1.5kg flour at $2, but a Countdown spokesperson said that was likely to change.

They said there was “significant pressure on the commodity cost of wheat at the moment due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine”.

“While we’ve been able to keep our flour at the same shelf price so far, it is likely that this will change in the coming weeks as the conflict continues.”