The All Ceylon Bakery Owners’ Association states that bakery owners have become extremely helpless due to a number of issues affecting the running of the bakery industry. The president of the association, N.K. Jayawardene says that about 300 bakeries have been closed down so far.
Jayawardena says that the prices of wheat flour, palm oil, coconut oil and margarine have gone up by 100% over the past and that the products are not available in the market at the prevailing prices. Due to this situation bread production in active bakeries is done only 5 days a week.
He pointed out that if the necessary steps are not taken to solve the problems faced by the bakery owners, another large number of bakeries could be closed down and the bakery industry could collapse completely and requested the President to intervene to revive the bakery industry.
