War in Ukraine leads to cost of wheat increase, forcing local bakeries to raise prices

MALDEN, Mass. — Much like bread, the Piantedosi Baking Company is a New England staple.

“We started in 1916 we’ve been around a little over 100 years,” said Carmine Piantedosi, who is the Operations Manager at the family owned Piantedosi Bakery in Malden.

Baking bread is a 24-7 operation at Malden facility.

But these days the dough isn’t the only thing rising at bakeries across the country. It all started with supply chain issues and fuel costs.

“We had a price increase in the last year much like everyone else,” said Piantedosi.

And now the war in Ukraine is behind the latest rise.  That’s because the price of making bread has skyrocketed due to the price of wheat. Ukraine is one of the top 10 exporters in the world.

“The price of wheat has almost doubled as opposed to two years ago,”

Piantedosi says they use fifteen thousand pounds of flour a day to produce half a million loaves of bread. Bakeries across the country are being forced to raise prices.

“Anywhere from $2.00-$2.25 could’ve been a normal price you’re now seeing that at $3.00-$3.25 now,” said Piantedosi.

Consumers have noticed the increase, too.

“Yeah, it sounds like it has,” said Lindsay Ontko of Cambridge.

Some tell Boston 25 News they even expected it.

“I’m not surprised no between Ukraine and the gas prices going up - everything’s going to get more expensive,” said Ben Coole of Malden.

And with the uncertainty of the war in Ukraine, it’s unclear when wheat prices could drop.

“A lot of it depends on the Russia Ukraine situation if that gets resolved soon we could see prices bounce back,” said Piantedosi.

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