Wheat Flour Prices Push Bakers Out Of Business
Bakery owners in Sri Lanka have said that thousands of bakers have been forced to close down their business due to the increase in wheat flour prices.
The bakers have said that some 2,000 bakers islandwide have been forced to close down their businesses while hundreds of others who depended on the bakery industry have lost their jobs.
President of the All-Ceylon Bakery Owners’ Association N. K. Jayawardena has told the media that the government’s decision to ban wheat flour based food items from school and state hospital canteens has dealt a severe blow to the bakers.
Meanwhile the government’s ban on wheat-flour products has extended to the local prisons as well. Prisoners are now served rice for all three meals.
The government has called on bakers to use rice flour as an alternative to wheat flour.
According to the All-Ceylon Bakery Owners’ Association, the quality rice flour for bread production is hard to find.