Supplies Are Insufficient: Bakers in Ukraine Forced to Import Rye Flour

Bakers in Ukraine are forced to sign contracts and import rye flour from outside Ukraine, as there are simply no domestic reserves. This was reported by the head of the All-Ukrainian Association of Bakers (VAP), Oleksandr Taranenko, in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency. According to him, Ukraine needs 3 million tons of food wheat. It is directed not only to bread production but also to pasta and cereals. Domestic rye consumption in Ukraine reaches 240-250 thousand tons. In 2024, 218 thousand tons were harvested. "A shortage has emerged, and the price of rye flour and, accordingly, bread made from it has tripled. Currently, bakers are forced to sign contracts and import rye flour from outside Ukraine, as there are no domestic reserves. We are buying mainly from Baltic countries, and before the war, Belarus was our main supplier. If a year ago the price of rye flour fluctuated within 6-7 thousand hryvnias per ton, today it is over 19 thousand hryvnias," Taranenko noted. ...