Rodney Whittle the owner of Flora Hill Bakehouse was forced to raise the price of a loaf of bread by 20 cents late last year.

In 22 years in the industry Mr Whittle has seen flour prices rise before but not as much as in November last year.

Read more: Flour prices rise due to drought

The bakehouse buys about a ton of flour each week and normally produces 360 to 370 loaves of bread.

They now pay $954 a week for flour. Mr Whittle has been told the increase has been caused by a one in 20 year drought across much of NSW and Victoria.

“It’s gone up $220 dollars per ton,” Mr Whittle said.

“Flour influxes up and down, but I’ve never seen it go up so high.”

Up in Elmore, bakery owner Travis Wilson has noticed a slight increase in the cost of flour, but hasn’t been forced to pass the increase onto customers yet.

A loaf of bread has cost $3 at the Elmore Bakery, and it’s been like that for eight years now.

They’re wearing the cost of the increase for bread, but if the price of flour continues to rise the owners may consider upping the price of a loaf of bread.

The bakery has increased pie prices between 20 and 40 cents to recover the extra cost of the base and top.

Mr Wilson is concerned by the fact that the price of flour seems likely to keep on rising.

The bakery aims to sell a diverse range of goods, such as sweet treats and coffee, to keep business busy, but more flour price rises could force them to readdress prices.

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“At the moment we’re always pretty busy and going strong, so it hasn’t seen a huge impact on us at the moment,” Mr Wilson said.

“We sell a lot of other things as well, we sell a lot of coffees, we sell a lot of sweet treats, trying to find a lot of other ways to keep us busy.”

In Flora Hill, Mr Whittle’s customers have noticed the rise, but been understanding. It hasn’t affected sales, but he does think that it could be difficult for families to wear the increasing cost of a dietary staple.

He doesn’t hold high hopes that prices will drop anytime soon.

“[Flour prices] always gradually grew, but I’ve never seen it this high before,” Mr Whittle said.

“It’s still the same and I think it’s going to take a long time to come back down now.”

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