, I don’t know how much it will cost to produce my bread,” said Maltese bakery owner Elaine Micallef.
Elaine is 50 years old and runs the traditional Maltese bakery "Carmelo Micallef". Although there are government subsidies, she still feels helpless in the face of rising prices.
Maltese traditional bread mainly contains flour, yeast , salt and other ingredients, and is made through traditional baking techniques. Thanks to government subsidies, the price of flour in Malta has not increased significantly. The price of bread sold by Elaine has remained unchanged. Between 0.75 euros and 1.70 euros each, her new and old customers can still buy cheap and high-quality traditional bread. .
html On April 29, customers shopped at a traditional gourmet pastry pie shop in Msida, Malta. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Wenxian The bakery now employs 8 employees. Elaine admitted that if the government did not "pay" for part of the wheat price increase, she would also have to increase the selling price. "We can't work at a loss. We need to pay employees' salaries and various expenses, and we need to make money to maintain operations."
"Carmelo Micallef" bakery, named after Elaine's father, has been in operation for half a year. Centuries of history. After Elaine took over the bakery, she still maintained traditional techniques to produce traditional Maltese bread.
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, food prices have generally risen in Europe, and inflation rates in many countries have hit record highs in decades, affecting the "vegetable basket" of ordinary people. Malta, an island country located in the "heart" of the Mediterranean Sea, is also facing inflationary pressure. Eurostat data shows that Malta’s inflation rate is relatively low among EU member states, but the April data still reached 5.4%.
This is a traditional Maltese bread taken at a bakery in Sliema, Malta, on April 20. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Jonathan Berg)
Marlene Mamo is an old customer of the bakery for more than ten years. On the day of the reporter’s interview, 61-year-old Ma Lin and her husband drove all the way from the southern city of Senglea to buy bread. The bakery didn't raise prices, which made the old couple somewhat lucky.
As for future income, Elaine is quite confused. "Now we can only take one step at a time. Bakeries are constantly closing in Malta, and there are not many bakeries left that still use traditional techniques."
Compared with subsidized bread, pies are also very popular among Maltese consumers. Not so lucky.
Cheese, meat, sunflower oil, eggs and other ingredients needed to make pies do not receive government subsidies, and their prices are rising. For this reason, some bakeries or restaurants selling pies have to increase their prices. Selling price.
Reporters saw in a restaurant bar called "Backyard" in Msida that pies filled with beef, spinach, cheese, etc. were priced at about 3.5 euros each. Shopkeeper Onur Selindere told reporters that the previous price was about 2 euros each. Considering customers' acceptance of price increases, the store has borne part of the increased costs.
html On April 20, employees of a bakery in Sliema, Malta, made traditional Maltese bread. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Jonathan Berg) Reporters learned from many restaurants that the wholesale price of beef rose from about 5 euros per kilogram at the beginning of the year to about 9 euros in a short period of time, and that of chicken rose from about 3.8 euros to about 5.5 euros. A 25-liter package of cooking oil has increased from approximately 38 euros to approximately 70 euros, and a 10-kilo package of regular butter has increased from approximately 11 euros to 20 euros. The reporter saw in retail supermarkets that sunflower oil has increased from about 1.7 euros to about 3.8 euros per liter.
Maltese media recently quoted the country's Finance Minister Clyde Caruana as saying that prices are expected to continue to soar in the future, and the government is doing its best to stabilize the prices of wheat, fuel and energy.
A middle-aged man who bought about 7.5 euros worth of bread in Elaine's shop lamented: Now he can only be more careful with his budget and reduce "luxury" expenses such as going to restaurants and bars.
