Supported Wheat for "Arabic" Bread and Unsubsidized for "French" Bread

Ahmad Hatait, the head of the mills’ assembly, clarified to "Al-Jumhuriya" that limiting flour production to category 85 aims to direct the use of subsidized wheat exclusively for the production of Arabic bread, as this type of flour is used solely for bread production. He pointed out that other types of flour, known as "extra" or "zero," are used to produce French bread, croissants, and manakish, among others. Consequently, this type of flour will not be available in the Lebanese market at subsidized prices as usual, necessitating the importation of unsubsidized wheat ships for those food industries. Therefore, Ali Ibrahim, the president of the bakers’ union, warned of exorbitant prices that will be seen in food products relying on this type of flour if imported from abroad. Hatait indicated that this decision came as a result of the illogical rise in the prices of manakish and French bread, which are priced as if they were unsubsidized despite the fact that the flour used in their production is subsidized. "The government considered that rationalizing the subsidy to prolong its duration until the approval of the World Bank loan requires directing it only towards Arabic bread." Hatait emphasized that the unavailability of unsubsidized wheat would lead to the discontinuation of those products, "unless one of the shipments that arrived in Lebanon, for which payment has not yet been made, is converted to an unsubsidized wheat shipment, as is currently being discussed." At the same time, he noted that importing unsubsidized wheat for other industries outside of Arabic bread would create a crisis linked to the shortage of dollars and the need to secure them to pay for the shipments.