Bogota, July 13 2023. Between July 27 and 28, the event "Bogota Smells of Bread", an initiative of the National Association of Bread Manufacturers - ADEPAN - and the Bogota Chamber of Commerce (CCB), with the support of the Secretariat of Economic Development of the Office of the Mayor of Bogota, will be held at the Kennedy Headquarters of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, seeking to become the main meeting place for the bakery and confectionery sector.

The event promotes dialogue among industry members to establish business contacts, discover the latest trends in the sector, participate in live demonstrations and specialized talks, as well as a CCB services fair especially for the sector.

"We annually celebrate Baker's Day with events like this to highlight the work and value of the baker. We are deciphering what has happened around an economic activity that has faced great challenges in the last two years. In Colombia there are about 26,000 businesses that produce and transform bread, of which about 80% are part of the traditional bakery, the neighborhood bakeries," said Marcela Morales, president of ADEPAN.

For his part, Juan David Castaño, Vice President of Business Strengthening of the CCB, highlighted the relevance of the capital in this industry and explained that "the bakery sector is of great importance for Bogota and the Region, because according to information from the Commercial Registry of the CCB, as of June 2023 the sector has 5,540 active companies, 97% of which are micro-enterprises on which we have focused our attention and services for their strengthening and competitiveness".

Precisely, for a little more than three years the CCB has been prioritizing attention to the base of the business pyramid, those micro-enterprises that are MSMEs and represent 91.8% of the total number of companies in Bogota. This type of businesses are small businesses of the popular economy such as bakeries, so the entity serves them through a portfolio of more than 600 free services that provide tools to close their gaps during their different stages of development.

The weight of the bread industry in Colombia

In Colombia, bakeries and pastry shops have sales of more than three trillion pesos and generate close to 400,000 direct jobs. Their weight is such that, within the national food production, the bakery industry represents 16%. In addition, we are the fifth country in the region in per capita consumption of bread, with 22 kilos per year.

Bogota and the region stand out for the quality of their product and for concentrating a high number of micro-businesses around the industry, because while 97% of the businesses in the sector are micro-businesses, only 2% are small and 1% are medium or large companies.

Rising production costs, the bread of everyday life

The main discussion on the challenges faced by the sector revolved around the rising costs of bread production, mainly impacted by climatic conditions, the reduction in the world wheat supply, the increase in freight rates and the rise of the dollar in the first half of the year. Likewise, the entry into force of the food labeling standard may present a challenge or a new opportunity for neighborhood bakeries.

During the event, Rodrigo Mantilla, from Fleischmann Foods, pointed out that this concern is accompanied by an inflationary context that has affected consumption at the level of the family basket and the challenge of the industry to keep up with new consumer trends that today have smaller families, reducing the need for supply. The Colombian chef, Mark Rausch, said that the industry must rethink its processes in the face of a more demanding consumer to generate products in which the correct techniques and processes allow the yeast to make its enzymatic processes so that the bread is not "demonized" by gluten.

Production and sales in the bakery industry were not significantly affected by the pandemic; in fact, they have continued to grow. However, reduced profit margins due to increased costs have mainly affected small businesses and consumers who have begun to face higher prices for baked goods.