The Irish Bakery Association has warned that bread prices will soon rise due to the impact of Brexit on ingredients costs.
It said only 40% of the flour used in Irish bread making is produced on the island of Ireland.
"The UK and the EU provide us with the rest of our bread making flour," it said in a statement.
According to the association, the UK suffered the worst harvest in 40 years last year - further worsening the situation.
It said Irish flour importers are finding that substitution options are limited in Europe, as Irish consumer prefers to eat the type of bread they're used to, made with the flour they’re used to.
"The flours produced on the continent are best suited to their own style of baguettes and bagels and less so to our slice pans and traditional Irish breads," the statement read.
Ireland also lacks production of yeast or sugar, and produces very little vegetable oil for bakery use, the association said.
It confirmed that the industry is seeing price hikes on all these ingredients, and so the cost of bakery production must also go up.
Gerald Cunningham, secretary of the IBA said that prudent stock-piling of flour before Christmas has kept prices flat to date.
"We also researched alternative sources of flour.
"But the MATIF (Flour price index) is currently at a record high causing the market to be volatile.
"It is important for the market to know what is happening, and that without external interventions, price rises are inevitable," he said.
