The prices of 400 basic products sold across eight of Slovakia’s biggest supermarket chains will be capped for three months, announced Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlčan.
Tesco, Lidl, Kaufland and Billa have decided to cap prices for the next three months, after which they will assess whether or not to maintain the cap. Metro is the only large store that has not decided to follow suit.
The initiative will help Slovak producers as well as most of the products, are made in Slovakia, according to the President of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce Martin Krajčovič.
“The fact that we have singled out mainly Slovak food can also increase the volume of their sales, which will give more support to domestic production,” Krajčovič added.
The cap should not lead to an increase in the prices of other foodstuffs, because retailers would not compensate for lost profits, he said. “There will still be competition for foods outside the lists, which is still very strong in our market,” he added.
In February, prices of groceries increased by approximately 29% compared to February last year.
Slovakia’s Agriculture Ministry has so far rejected calls from the opposition to regulating food prices. Agriculture Minister Vlčan welcomed the voluntary guarantees for price stabilisation and called on farmers and food producers to come up with similar initiatives to help reduce the pressure of expensive food on low-income groups.
(Michal Hudec | EURACTIV.sk)
Source: euractiv.com
