Romanians to Pay Less for Staple Foods in Next Three Months

BTA correspondent Martina Gancheva, Valentin Evstatiev

A supermarket in Bucharest (BTA photo)

Bucharest,

01.08.2023 13:15

(BTA)

After a spate of price hikes, Romanians are taking a breath of fresh air. Under an extraordinary government ordinance, they will pay less for 14 groups of food products in the next three months, beginning on August 1. The price cuts apply to white bread, fresh cow's milk, cow's cheese, yogurt from cow's milk, white flour from wheat, icing sugar, eggs, sunflower oil, fresh chicken, fresh pork, tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, dry common beans, carrots, potatoes, peppers, chili, apples, plums, water melon and grapes.

BTA found that on August 1 one of the large supermarket chains in Romania was selling a bottle of sunflower oil at RON 5.89 (EUR 1.19), a tray of eggs at about RON 8 (EUR 1.62), potatoes at RON 2.99 (EUR 0.61) per kilo, water melon at RON 1.99 (EUR 0.40) per kilo, plums at RON 5.99 (EUR 1.21) per kilo, tomatoes at RON 5.49 (EUR 1.11) per kilo, cheese at RON 3.45 (EUR 0.70) per kilo, flour at RON 3.39 (EUR 0.69) per kilo, pork at RON 20 (EUR 4.05) per kilo, and chicken legs at RON 14 (EUR 2.84) per kilo.

Eager shoppers, mainly older people, began lining up in front of supermarkets early on Tuesday morning. But many are skeptical about the change. "It's all very good, but what happens in three months' time? Should we expect prices to double and triple," a retired woman told BTA while choosing vegetables to buy.

On Monday, Agriculture Minister Florin-Ionut Barbu said that stores will be checked for compliance with the measure. Failure to comply will be punished by a fine of RON 100,000 (EUR 20,268) to RON 2,000,000 (EUR 405,000). Barbu noted that the markup may not exceed 20% of the pre-VAT producer price.

On June 20, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and large food retailers agreed in principle on a mechanism to reduce the prices of staple foods. As soon as he took over as government leader, Ciolacu stated that it was a matter of utmost urgency to apply a scheme to limit the markups on essential foods from farm to shelf. He vowed that the markup limit will not put pressure on Romanian food producers.

/NZ/