Irish consumers are likely to be paying higher prices for bread and other products made from flour later this year because of the unprecedented increase in grain prices globally.
Julie Wallace, retail sales manager with Odlums, yesterday said it was being forced to pass on additional costs the company was facing in the grain market. "The price of grain increased by €35 per tonne each year over the previous two harvests and this harvest the price increase is €100 per tonne," she said.
As the company began milling this year's flour, Ms Wallace predicted that increases "in the high double digits" would have to be passed along to the consumer. She said wheat prices were being driven upward by increased demand around the globe at a time when global stocks of wheat are at their lowest level since the 1960s.