Analyst: Food pricing, which involves huge extra profits, must be brought within reasonable limits

Krisztián Talabér said that in Hungary, food retailers were working with huge profits, with margins of up to 80 percent for certain products – meat, milk, yogurt, eggs – meaning that the selling price was 80 percent higher than the purchase price, meaning that they generated extra profits on these products.

According to him, this was a profit-seeking behavior resembling wild capitalism, with food retail chains abusing their practically monopoly position over consumers.

“The government said that this is it, and no more, it is time to intervene in the operations of companies, since this pricing is shameless on the part of multinationals,”

– he emphasized.

The analyst clearly stated that inflation is caused by the “shameless” profiteering and huge profit appetite of food retail chains, and it is the consumers, the Hungarian people, who suffer from this.

Talabér Krisztián reminded that the margin freeze ordered by the government will maximize the difference between the purchase and selling prices to 10 percent for about 30 products. The measure will come into effect on March 17, i.e. next Monday, and will initially be in effect until May 31.

The government will then examine whether the measure has achieved the desired effect and decide whether it is necessary to maintain it or not, he added.

According to the analyst, the measure could reduce food inflation by up to 2 percentage points and could also have a beneficial effect on market competition.

He also noted that the government tried a milder approach when it asked the chains to self-restrict, but according to reports, only two of the six major chains made a worthwhile offer.