Why Has My Baguette Gone Up?

A few months ago, before this year's stonkingly good crop was taken off the fields of France, I picked up a little leaflet from the boulangerie entitled 'Pourquoi ma baguette de pain augmente'.

In translation, it says:

- the price of wheat has risen by 150% in 15 months!

- this price represents 10% of the cost of a baguette.
- from 0.035 euros worth of wheat in the price of a baguette, now it represents 0.088 euros.

That is an additional cost of more than 5 cents per baguette that my bakery must absorb!

Here are the 3 principle reasons that caused this:

1. Poor harvests tied to climatic conditions (drought in Australia and the Ukraine, rain and frost in Western Europe and the United States).

2. An increase in worldwide consumption.

3. The level of world stocks is too low.

Flour isn't the only factor to have an impact on the price: an increase in rates of pay, linked to the minimum wages index, as well as the increase in the price of energy contributing also...

Finally, to protect my living without affecting the quality of my product, I must take all this into account at this juncture.

Thank you for your understanding.

Your Baker.

How the price of your baguette is made up. Please note that I measured the baguette carefully and cut to the nearest millimetre, in order to give our readers the best possible understanding of the components that make up the cost of a baguette. The actual percentages can be obtained on request.

Over on Living the Life in Saint-Aignan, Ken gives an update of the situation now that this year's harvest is in.

Susan