Why government reduces bread weight and raise its price?

The director of the Syrian Bakeries Corporation confirmed that reducing the weight of the loaf of bread from 1500 grams to 1200 and raising its price to 4 thousand liras aims to preserve the strategic stock of wheat, noting that the economic conditions and the decline in financial resources directly affected the government support for bread.

Mohaled Sayyad explained, according to the "Voice of the Capital" website, that the decline in government support as a result of the severe economic crisis made it difficult to continue financing bread at the subsidized price, which led to a gradual increase in prices, according to his description.

The liberalization of bread sales led to an increase in demand for it, which prompted bakeries to work additional hours to meet the needs of the people, and despite the rise in prices, the high demand continued, which caused crowding in some bakeries, especially in areas with high population density.

The director of the institution confirmed that the concerned authorities are working to rehabilitate the bakeries in the countryside, as the rehabilitation of the Yalda and Babila bakeries south of Damascus has been completed, while work continues to rehabilitate the Jdeidet Artouz bakery to enhance the availability of bread in those areas.

On February 21, a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned of "serious threats to food security" in Syria due to the repercussions of the conflict on wheat production and the provision of bread.

The office said that Syria remains one of the most complex humanitarian crises in the world, which greatly affects the production and supply of its staple food, which is bread.

The UN report stated that 58% of wheat farmers in northwestern Syria reported a decline in yields in 2023-2024, especially in Idlib and Hama.

The report also indicated that bakery production nationwide does not meet the needs of the population, and that the largest production gaps were recorded in the governorates of Aleppo and Idlib, where the Darat Izza area in Idlib witnessed the largest shortage in relation to its population size.