“Lower weight, at the same high price”. The government asks the authorities to intervene

The phenomenon of shrinkflation, which involves products with a lower weight sold at the same high price as before, has been growing for some time in Romania as well, something that was also noted by the authorities.

“I’m starting with a topic that, unfortunately, is increasingly present in European states and it seems that it has also reached us: the fact that some retailers have reduced the weight of the products, but left the prices as high. I consider this to be a form of consumer fraud! It is actually a “camouflaged” and economically unjustified price increase under a very similar packaging. I ask all the control authorities in Romania to intervene urgently! And in parallel, let’s prepare a regulation, on the French model: manufacturers must be obliged to visibly indicate on the packaging that they have reduced the weight, if the price of the product has remained unchanged. And, of course, severe penalties for non-compliance with this obligation“, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Thursday.

According to a study, 93% of Romanians have noticed the phenomenon in our country as well. Romanians have noticed, for some time, the decrease in the weights of several products. But the price remains the same or even increases.

Recently, more and more European states have criminalized the “shrinkflation” phenomenon.

French retailers will have to notify buyers about reducing the size of products without a corresponding reduction in prices, in an effort to keep under control the phenomenon of “shrinkflation” (shrink – reduction and inflation – inflation), the Ministry of Finance announced, reports Reuters.

The French initiative could be translated at European level and transformed into a Directive, as recently proposed by the French Minister of Business, Tourism and Consumers.

As early as January, the Hungarian Government announced that it would require large food retailers, starting from March, to display warnings on the packaging of products whose sizes have been reduced.

The inflation rate in Hungary reached a peak of 25% in the first quarter of last year, the highest level in the European Union, and the authorities in Budapest are trying to revive the economy, in the conditions where the purchasing power of consumers has decreased, reports Reuters.