The big capping of food prices is coming! The Romanian government wants Romanian products to have a commercial addition limited to 20%. Which food products will be added to the official list of price-capped foods?
The Romanian government wants Romanian products to have a commercial addition limited to 20%
Food price ceilings. The Romanian government is working on a new limitation of the commercial allowance for domestic products. Experts challenge the measure to limit the addition proposed by the Executive, anticipating that it will, in fact, lead to an increase in prices and a lack of food products in stores.
The executive is developing a new strategy to limit the commercial addition to traditional products. There are currently 17 core products that have a trade markup limited to 20% (see list here). The executive plans to increase this list, hoping to reduce the prices of domestic products and increase sales for small traders.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Florin Barbu, said that, until December 31, the ordinance regarding the ceiling of the commercial addition was transposed into law by the Romanian Parliament. He and his colleagues are working on a legislative project to ensure a fair trade mark for all agri-food products processed in Romania.
The objective is that the commercial markup for Romanian products should not exceed 20% in retail stores. Whereas for imported products, retailers should be free to set the desired trade mark. An analysis revealed that Romanian agri-food products have a higher commercial value than imported ones in retail stores.
“At the moment, until December 31, the ordinance on the ceiling of the commercial addition was transposed by the Parliament into law. At the moment, a legislative project is underway, which, together with my colleagues from the Ministry of Agriculture, we want all the agri-food products that are processed in Romania to have a correct trade mark.
We no longer want the commercial markup on Romanian products to exceed 20% on the shelves of retailers in Romania, so that Romanian products have a commercial markup limited to 20%, and the products that come from imports, the retailers, put any commercial markup they want .
At the moment, if we do an analysis and we did this analysis, the Romanian agri-food products have a higher commercial value than the imported products, in retail stores”, Florin Barbu said, on Friday, at the fair for the promotion of agri-food products Romanian.
This initiative could cause a product shortage
However, small traders warn that this initiative could cause a shortage of products. In addition, it could cause the complete elimination of traditional Romanian products from the market.
It seems that they do not benefit from financial aids as generous as traders and manufacturers in other countries, which leads to higher production costs for them.
The draft law is to be put to a vote within the governing coalition. Local authorities must decide for how long this price cap will be implemented.
