Madrid, July 25 - Spain's frozen dough makers, who provide a fifth of the country's bread, say their prices are likely to rise in September unless the cost of grain reverses its relentless ascent.
So far, dough manufacturers have passed on only a fraction of the rise in the cost of flour, the chairman of their trade association, ASEMAC, said on Wednesday.
Flour prices have accumulated a rise of around 30 percent in the last year, while the end price of frozen dough has only gone up once in January and by 6.5 percent, Felipe Ruano said.
"Unless we can see flour is coming back down, we're going to have to transfer this to clients at the end of the summer," Ruano told Reuters.
World grain prices have been climbing steadily for much of the last year, under pressure from low stocks, poor harvests in some key producing countries and rising demand from the ethanol industry as well as commodity-hungry investment funds.
In Europe, wheat futures have jumped to above 200 euros ($276) a tonne from 150 euros in the last four months alone. Although Spain is expecting a bumper harvest this year, it typically imports about a third of its grain.