“It is up to each company to make the decision to raise, lower or maintain the price of its bread, since the price and weight of bread is calculated according to the cost of its production and this cost has been increasing. Thus, although it is not possible to establish a percentage for the correctness of the price of bread, the variation in the prices of flour, energy and labour should be a good indicator of it”, Luís Gonçalves told Lusa.

According to the president of ACIP, the increase in production factors is putting “pressure on the final price” of products, with many bakery and pastry companies seeing their profit margins “crushed in a fight for the balance between customer satisfaction and the viability of the business”. However, ACIP noted that, despite being concerned, entrepreneurs are “actively working on creating solutions”.

With regard to consumption, Luís Gonçalves noted that in 2021 it was “equivalent to previous years”, which can be justified by the fact that bread is a “basic” good and is part of the Portuguese diet.