The National Federation of Bakers of Senegal (FNBS) and the Regroupement des Boulangers du Senegal (RBS) faced the press this Thursday in Dakar to discuss the “serious challenges” facing the Senegalese bakery sector since the decision new authorities to lower the price of bread on June 21, 2024. According to these bakers, this decision by the authorities is behind the closure of several bakeries across the country, leading to disastrous economic and social consequences.
Closure of several bakeries
“Since the decision of the new authorities to lower the price of bread on June 21, 2024, we have witnessed the closure of several bakeries across the country. I can cite the case of Touba 28. In Dakar, our last count, we were at 37, in Fatick 7 closures, Louga 4, etc. The situation is critical. It must be said that the Senegalese baking industry is in crisis. A sector which is full of more than 30 thousand direct jobs, 40 thousand indirect jobs, 600 billion in turnover, with 3% of GDP,” declared Amadou Gaye, president of the FNBS.
So, he said, “this situation has led to disastrous economic and social consequences.” For Amadou Gaye, this mainly results from the “non-application of regulations and its consequences on the price and weight of bread. This was made worse by the lack of involvement of other ministries to support the Ministry of Trade and Industry.”
According to Mr. Gaye, for several years, the “bakery sector has been experiencing difficulties of various kinds which are hampering its growth to the benefit of an uncontrollable part of the informal sector. Aware of the economic and social impact of this strategic sector in the development of the country, the FNBS and the RBS “intend to prevent any crisis which could permanently discredit the profession”.
“Failure to comply with these regulations will plunge them back into a deeper coma, into total bankruptcy”
He also recalled that on January 14, 2025, the Minister of Commerce and Industry received a delegation from the FNBS and the RBS to discuss the difficulties they are encountering, resulting from the non-application of decree 2277 and the increase in prices. of their production costs.
Amadou Gaye denounced: “We grant opening exemptions without motivation. Non-functioning of monitoring committees in the bakery sector: not even the beginning of application in certain regions, despite all our reminders. The sale of bread inside local shops without respecting hygiene standards persists….”
According to him, the hydrocarbons department is slow to deliver diesel quotas on time. “Currently, many bakeries which have an EC buy at the pump at the price of 755 F per liter of diesel instead of the 425 F for diesel mentioned in the bread price structure. The increase in inputs such as yeast and improvers: for example, for yeast, from 20,000 Fcfa per carton in June 2019, we are between 26,000 and 31,000 Fcfa today.
The President of the FNBS recalled that the Minister of Trade and Industry, with whom they discussed all these problems, had assured them of the firm desire of his ministry to support them.
“The solutions must come now at the highest level. This is why we call for action on the Prime Minister who coordinates the government’s action, to take urgent measures by involving all the ministries concerned, to enforce the existing regulations.
For bakers in Senegal, non-compliance with these regulations will plunge them back into “a deeper coma, into total bankruptcy”.
