The increase in the price of a loaf of bread to 500 Sudanese pounds has intensified the cost-of-living pressures on households across Sudan. The price has risen by 35 per cent amid declining purchasing power and soaring production costs facing bakery owners, driven by higher prices for flour, yeast, and fuel, as well as power outages and the depreciation of the Sudanese pound against the US dollar.
Citizens are calling for intervention to ease the burden of rising costs for this essential food item, while industry workers warn that containing further price increases is becoming increasingly difficult amid the ongoing war and deteriorating economic conditions.
Al-Tayeb Al-Jaali, a bakery owner in Omdurman, said the latest increase in bread prices was driven by rising production costs.
He explained that a sack of flour now costs 190,000 Sudanese pounds, while a carton of yeast has reached 290,000 pounds. Meanwhile, daily workers’ wages have increased by 25 per cent.
Al-Jaali said curbing bread price increases and easing the burden on both bakery owners and consumers would require government intervention to limit exchange-rate fluctuations and rein in inflation, amid the continued depreciation of the Sudanese currency.
