Once Again, A Shortage of Bread

La Candeal Bakery, in Havana, this Wednesday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 28 October 2020 — The shelves and counters of bakeries in various parts of Havana have been empty for days. In the rationed market, the daily production  is barely enough to meet the Government’s commitment of about 3 ounces of bread for each consumer.

The sale of bread outside the rationed market has also been affected and the supply of products containing flour has visibly decreased in the private sector. The typical smell of baked dough that floods the surroundings of bakeries in the early morning is hardly there. Many businesses that sell sandwiches or snacks cannot find bread to make them with.

“I have only been able to buy the rationed bread and to make it worse the lines are endless. They put out a little bit of bread and then it’s gone. The employee says there will be more in the afternoon and when you get there you stand in line for an hour,” a neighborhood resident who was waiting at the bakery in Hidalgo y Lombillo, in Nuevo Vedado, told this newspaper.

The problem, customers say, is not solved by going to private companies either. “Near my house, at 23rd and 26th there is a private bakery, and yes, they put out bread and cookies early in the morning, but it flies off the shelves and I can hardly ever get any,” added the woman.

Nuevo Vedado Bakery in Havana. (14ymedio)

In the municipality of Centro Habana the scenario is no different. At La Candeal bakery, located on the corner of San Lázaro and Hospital, there have been serious problems for days. “No matter when you pass by there is no bread in any bakery, only the rationed bread, and they told me here right now that it won’t go on sale until four in the afternoon,” said another Havanan who this morning had made a tour of various parts of the city in search of bread.

“I am not picky, I am looking for anything, but bread cannot be lacking in my house,” he said. Before leaving to continue his journey, he said: “Do you remember the coyuntural (“temporary situation”)
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