Bread-price Jump being investigated

    The government is investigating whether price fixing is behind a recent jump in the price of flour and bread in South Kazakhstan and Zhambyl Oblasts.
    Bakytbek Imanaliyev, deputy governor of Zhambyl Oblast, said bakeries in the region paid 27 tenge a kilogram for flour on June 10. The price spurted to 35 tenge on June 28 and 42 tenge on July 7.
    The increases have led to the price of a loaf of bread costing 5 to 7 tenge more than in early June, Minister of Agriculture Akhylbek Kurishbayev said.
    A special government antimonopoly agency known as the Competition Protection Agency is looking into the matter.
    The government is also advising bakeries to buy flour from the state-owned Prod Corporation rather than from wholesalers. Prod Corporation purchases agricultural products in bulk, then resells them, according to Kazinform and caspionet.kz.