The Syrian Ministry of Economy and Industry issued a circular to the directorates of internal trade and consumer protection in all governorates, ordering a change to the number of loaves in a bread bundle.
The circular reduces the number of loaves from ten to eight, while keeping the price fixed at 40 new Syrian pounds, equivalent to 4,000 old Syrian pounds, or about $0.28 at the parallel market rate.
The ministry set the weight of the bundle at 1,000 grams, down from 1,050 grams.
According to the circular, issued on Monday, June 15, the decision will take effect as of Saturday, June 20, 2026, “without any adjustment to the price of the bread bundle,” provided that the diameter of each loaf is no less than 31 centimeters.
The ministry directed its instructions to the directorates of internal trade and consumer protection in 14 governorates, including Damascus, Rural Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Latakia, Tartus, Idlib, Daraa, Quneitra, Deir Ezzor, Hasakah, Raqqa, and Suwayda.
Previous Reduction to the Bread Bundle
The decision comes after an earlier reduction in the weight of the bread bundle, the latest of which was on May 9, when the Syrian Ministry of Economy and Industry reduced the weight of the bundle to 1,050 grams while keeping its price fixed.
The ministry’s media official, Hassan al-Ahmad, told Enab Baladi at the time that the ministry had issued a decision reducing the weight of one bundle to 1,050 grams, containing ten loaves, instead of 1,200 grams.
The media official added that the bundle would continue to be sold at 40 new Syrian pounds, equivalent to 4,000 old Syrian pounds, or about $0.28 at the parallel market rate, despite the lower weight.
The ministry also issued, according to a document obtained by Enab Baladi, a decision reducing bakeries’ flour allocations to 1.75 sacks per ton of production.
Successive Changes to Shape, Weight, and Price
These decisions followed a series of amendments that began after the fall of the former regime, when the new Syrian government ended the link between bread bundles and the smart card. It raised the bundle’s weight to 1,500 grams, 12 loaves, and increased its price from 400 old Syrian pounds, about $0.03 at the parallel market rate, to 4,000 old Syrian pounds, about $0.28.
The Ministry of Internal Trade then reduced the weight again in February 2025 to 1,200 grams, with a loaf diameter of 25 to 28 centimeters.
In October of the same year, the Syrian Bakeries Establishment announced, according to SANA at the time, that the number of loaves would be reduced to ten and the loaf diameter increased to 33 centimeters, with the aim of “improving quality and softness,” while keeping the weight and price fixed at the time.
Thus, the bundle’s weight moved from 1,500 grams to 1,200 grams, then to 1,050 grams over 16 months, while its price remained fixed at 4,000 old Syrian pounds, equivalent to 40 new Syrian pounds, or about $0.28 at the parallel market rate, in a gradual reduction of in-kind subsidies.
Gap Between Need and Interventions
These measures come amid a broader food crisis, as about 9.1 million people in Syria face food insecurity, according to 2025 data, while aid reaches only part of those in need because of funding shortages and rising operating costs.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented at least 174 attacks on bakeries from March 2011 to 2021, most of them carried out at the time by the Syrian-Russian alliance, causing major damage to bakery infrastructure across the country.