The Chamber of Agriculture urges the elimination of the food price cap

By: Trademagazin Date: 2023. 01. 18. 12:16

It is an unfavorable process that is contrary to the interests of Hungarian consumers and the national economy, that retail store chains – at the expense of Hungarian producers and manufacturers – aim to increase imports in more and more food segments. In addition to temporary difficulties, this trend may lead to the weakening of Hungarian supplier positions that have been fought for in recent years. Based on global agricultural economic trends, the growth of food prices is slowing down, which could provide an opportunity to remove the price cap, and that would help Hungary maintain its positions – points out the NAK.

Foreign import dumping also means lower quality

Several years ago, a drastic increase in the input costs of producers and food producers and the costs of food production began worldwide and in Hungary, which in the initial period was not followed by consumer prices, as well as the prices paid to producers by the retail trade. After that, as a result of the sanctions policy, which significantly weakened the economy of the European Union, production costs continued to rise drastically. This imbalanced situation could not be sustained in the long term, and over time consumer prices also increased exponentially.

According to the National Chamber of Agrarian Economy (NAK), it is a regrettable trend that commercial players – referring to compensation for losses caused by the price cap – have significantly increased the import of imported products even in those segments where Hungarian producers have gained a strong market position in recent years, products (e.g. dairy products , meat products). This unfavorable process must be stopped as soon as possible.