A flurry of bankruptcies for Greek bakeries

Growing energy inflation, accumulated debts, rising commodity prices and declining consumption are causing bakeries to close more and more often in Greece, and bakers can’t even put… bread on the table. The government blames Putin, the population blames the government…

More than 50 bakeries have closed in the past two months, raising that number to 260 during 2022, Michalis Musios, president of the Greek Bakers’ Federation, told Oikonomikos taxidromos (OT). It is noted that in early October, the Federation of Bakers of Greece spoke of 204 bakeries that were permanently closed for financial reasons, due to retirement or not being granted status, while 15% of bakeries (about 2,160 out of 14,400 bakeries operating in the country ) accumulated losses.

Energy costs “burn” bakeries
The main reason for the new bakery shutdowns is operating costs, which have doubled, with electricity costs being the main factor. Musios pointed out to OT that some energy suppliers had not given retroactive energy subsidies to bakeries. And this is because, as they were told, even they (including suppliers) did not collect the appropriate funds from the state in order to return them to the beneficiaries.

In fact, we are not talking about “returns” for one or two months, but for the entire period from the beginning of the year until today, Musios notes. For each small bakery, this amount corresponds to between 5,000 and 8,000 euros.

Map of closures
Since the beginning of the year, the most closures have been in Athens (over 75), Thessaloniki (22-25) and Crete (20). At the same time, in five months, from May to November of this year, more than 8 bakeries closed in Patras. Some of them were sold and changed hands, but most were closed permanently. Also among the districts where new closures were recorded between October and November is Ioannina. In the capital of Epirus, which is considered the “baking metropolis”, 8 bakeries have closed in recent months. It is worth noting that in many areas of Athens, for example, Nea Smyrni, 4 out of 8 bakeries have closed, which has already created problems for local residents.

Blame it on the cost of raw materials
In addition to energy costs, bakers also have to cope with skyrocketing raw material prices. “This is not only flour, the price of which has stabilized at a high level since March last year. It is sugar, which now costs 1.2-1.3 euros per kilogram against 0.64 last year, a doubling of prices for butter, an increase in prices for sunflower oil (30 euros per 10 liters this year versus 22 last year), a 60 percent increase in the price of cheese, and much more,” Mr. Musios emphasizes.

Turnover of bakeries at the level of 2 billion
The reduction in spending by a significant part of households due to inflation also affected the turnover of bakeries, according to representatives of the sector. Characteristically, according to the results of the Opinion Poll conducted for the Athens Chamber of Commerce, 83.2% of citizens reduced the purchase of consumer goods. Since the beginning of 2022, the turnover of 14,400 artisanal bakeries across Greece, employing 80,000 direct workers and 70,000 indirect, has fallen by 20%, which means a loss of 500 million euros for the year as a whole. Currently, the total turnover of bakeries in the country reaches 2 billion euros.

Who is guilty?

To the traditional question “who is to blame?” the inhabitants of Greece, first of all, call the government, then the war in Ukraine, but, unlike the government, for some reason do not consider Putin guilty. Serious flaws in propaganda are felt …

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