The Syrian Bakeries Institution revealed yesterday, Sunday, January 19, that Syria needs to establish more than 160 additional bakeries to meet the population’s need for bread.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection, through the Syrian Bakeries Institution, is working to increase the number of bakeries in all governorates according to international standard specifications in terms of area, construction, equipment, and necessary supplies for bread production to achieve the best quality and standards.

Mohammad al-Sayyadi, the director of the Syrian Bakeries Institution, told SANA that after an initial assessment of the governorates and their rural areas regarding population density in the regions, cities, villages, and geographical area, the institution announced its need to establish new bakeries in most governorates to optimally serve them and reduce congestion at existing bakeries.

Al-Sayyadi indicated that many requests for establishing new bakeries have been submitted and studied, positively reflecting on meeting citizens’ needs for bread and improving the quality of bread.

According to the initial assessment, Damascus needs 7 new bakeries, Rural Damascus 8, Aleppo 45, Homs 13, Hama 5, Latakia 28, Tartus 4, Deir Ezzor 12, Idlib 33, and Daraa 8.

The bakery director explained that the new bakeries in Damascus will be located in the areas of al-Qadam, Yarmouk Camp, Jobar, al-Duwayla, al-Qaboun, al-Mazzeh 86, and al-Hajar al-Aswad, while in Rural Damascus, they will be in Muadamiyat al-Sham, Artouz, Zakiyah, Saa’saa, Wadi Barada souq, al-Wafideen Camp, Hajira, and Nashabiya.

Al-Sayyadi confirmed that the institution is taking a series of steps to improve the quality of bread, including implementing a specific procedure for producing flour of the best quality by utilizing existing expertise in the mills, as well as daily monitoring of bakeries, especially concerning cleanliness, quality, and weight.

The Syrian Bakeries Directorate has also obligated all bakeries in Syria to present a daily report that includes the total number of dough batches, taxes on flour sacks, diesel, bread, yeast, sprinkling materials, bags, vegetable oil, salt, operational hours, and the total weight of bread to optimize operations.

In 2020, the previous government included bread on the smart card system, allocating a certain number of bundles for each family based on its members, with a subsidized price of 400 Syrian pounds per bundle.

Following the collapse of the Syrian regime, the smart card system was abolished, and a bundle of bread containing 10 loaves is now sold for 4,000 Syrian pounds at bakeries.

Al-Sayyadi stated on the 15th of this month that the production capacity of the institution’s bakeries, which number 250, is 5,000 tons per day, excluding the eastern regions, producing approximately 3.9 million bundles daily.

Al-Sayyadi mentioned that the institution is currently working on rehabilitating many bakeries to restart their operations and production, as many of them have gone out of service.

He also indicated that the institution is studying the possibility of reopening bakeries on Fridays to ensure that people do not go without bread throughout the week, denying that there is currently any study to reduce the price of a bundle of bread, while working to remove subsidies for bread and liberalize the market in parallel with raising the income levels for the families and improving their purchasing power.