Price of bread in the state grocery shops remains the same - 1,000 Turkmen Manat (or 0.04 US Dollars) for one loaf.  The quality of bakery products in these state shops however plummeted to a mark - “inedible”.

The quality of the wheat flour is to be blamed first and foremost. A few consequent bad harvest years resulted in locally produced Turkmen wheat flour being of a distinctive unappetizing mousey-grey colour and of similar unenviable taste characteristics.  

This situation is not at all new in Turkmenistan. People by now are well accustomed to buying “shop’s brick-shape loaf” of poor quality for several days before the salary day, i.e. when they are short of cash; and enjoying a taste of real bread - “market’s chorek” - baked of imported flour, all other days of month. “Chorek” in the markets used to be three times more expensive than bread in the shops but the quality of it was ten times better. 

Special place in Turkmen national cuisine is given to the art of making bread – chorek. Tamdyr – a place where Turkmen chorek is baked, is considered a sacred place in a household with chorek itself always being considered as a guard protecting people during travel.

The market prices have now increased and it is not unusual these days for Tamdyr chorek to cost 5 or sometimes 7 thousand manat. Sliced and perfectly packed bagets 10,000 manat each have also made appearance in the markets and supermarkets. The unbeatable record price however is 20,000 manat for a 1kg loaf of bread made of highest quality Russian wheat flour. This bread though is for gourmets and money-bags.

Ensuring supplies of Kazakh grain and wheat flour to Turkmenistan is a priority task for Ashgabat because lack of these supplies can bring Turkmenistan back to the “bread crisis”. Asking neighbours to provide the grain is exactly what the President of Turkmenistan is going to do. According to a source – “Turkmen bread in the shops’ windows looks so scary that even flies stay away from it. Eating it is practically an impossible task. No senior official knows what the harvest level would be this year. Neither did they know it last year».

The fact that Russian flour is nowadays widely available for 12 thousand manat for a kilo (0.48 US Dollar) and Kazakh flour for 9 thousand per kilo, suggests successful level of supplies. The prices on imported flour in Turkmenistan in 2007 differ significantly from those of 2005:

20.12.2005    «Plasticine» Turkmen bread
Niyazov’s kingdom in the wake of riots of the hungry
Wheat flour brought to Turkmenistan from Kazakhstan and Russia has always been highly valued. Good Stavropol wheat flour is the most expensive one - 25 thousand manat (1 US Dollar) per kilo. Kazakh flour costs 15 thousand manat for a kilo. The imported flour can only be bought in Ashgabat and nearby areas. Only very few can afford it – too expensive. The last month alone saw 15 – 20% price increase for Kazakh and Russian flour. These are the consequences of Turkmenbashi’s decision to introduce import tax – the leader thereby wanted to support local producers. Given that an average Turkmen family has to spend nearly entire salary on food – recollection by people of bread related unrest in Turkmenistan in mid 90ies should come as no surprise…

Experience of the last decade has clearly demonstrated inability of Turkmenistan to cope without importing flour from abroad. Import of grain produce is as evident economic necessity for our country as export of natural gas. And while we have access to Kazakh flour and while Turkmen Tamdyrs exist, “bread riots” are not to threaten Turkmenistan.