Each bakery will have to make its own decision on raising the prices of its products, in order to finance the increased salaries in January, József Septe, president of the Hungarian Bakers’ Association, told Magyar Hírap.

Already there are 3,000 vacancies among bakers, as professionals, like other sectors, are increasingly working abroad for better pay. The average wage of a professional in the industry is HUF 160,000 monthly before tax, not much above the Hungarian minimum wage of HUF 111,000 for unskilled workers and HUF 129,000 for skilled workers.

Septe told the paper that the association has received a promise from the government that the VAT on bread could be dropped to 5% from the current 18% by 2018. He added that, nationwide, Hungarians operate a little less than 1,000 bakeries; Albanians operate almost 700 bakeries.

By Christian Keszthelyi

Source: BBJ

Republished with permission