Shelly-Ann Thompson, Staff Reporter

Workers at MegaMart's in-house bakery in St Andrew. The Bakers' Association of Jamaica says a 22 per cent increase has been applied to the cost of bread in response to the increases in the price of flour. - FILE

Bakers islandwide are worried that their sales could soon start to decline with the 32 per cent hike in the cost of baking flour in just five days.

Clarence Chin, operator of Golden Loaf Baking Company, in Ocho Rios, St Ann, told The Gleaner yesterday that it was unavoidable that a substantial increase would have to be applied to the price of bread, come tomorrow.

"I think this will have an adverse effect on people and they will feel it," said Chin.

"They will search for a substitute, but hopefully not for long," he added.

Jamaica Flour Mills announced last week that flour, which is the main ingredient in bread, would increase by 29 per cent.

And yesterday the company announced that an additional three per cent would be added, due to rising world prices.

Meanwhile, Captain Horace Burrell, the proprietor of Captain's Bakery, is warning that in a short while a number of bakeries will go out of business.

"The future of the baking industry is frightening," said Burrell, whose establishment has branches in Clarendon, St James and Kingston.

According to the Bakers' Association of Jamaica, in 11 months, at least nine bakeries had to close their doors.

"There has been a drastic downturn in sales and this is attributed to the steep increase that we have had, not only on raw material, but also in electricity, fuel, wages, insurance and motor vehicle costs," said Burrell.