StandardSpeaker.com reports that “Persistent flooding in the upper Plains states have caused flour prices to increase dramatically since mid-March, making it more expensive for flour products to be made.”

“The price hike is being felt locally by bakeries and pizzerias. The effect has not surfaced widely in grocery prices, but hammers small businesses, said Richard Volpe, a U.S. Department of Agriculture economist who tracks retail food prices. ‘It’s the smaller guys, the pizza shops and bakeries, that are seeing huge increases,’ Volpe said. ‘It doesn’t hit the larger processors and get transmitted to the retail price level to a large extent.'”

“Longo’s Bakery on North Church Street, Hazleton, which buys its flour in bulk, is one of those paying a lot more. ‘In the last 18 months, our cost of flour has doubled,’ said Stephanie Sirocky, Longo’s office manager. ‘Our flour is delivered, blown into silos we have. On top of the increase, we are getting assessed a fuel surcharge. So we are getting it both ways.'”

“Sirocky said the bakery has held off on increasing prices for its goods, but may not be able to hold off much longer. ‘We have been holding off, because the price was fluctuating a little,’ she said. ‘It went down shortly, but then it shot back up. If this keeps up, by the end of the summer we will have to raise prices.'”