Romanian Food Prices Might Climb 10% To 25% - Producers

Matei said bread, meat and milk will be the first products to become more expensive, because of more costly raw materials, the new VAT level, the 7% inflation rate and local farmers choosing to export their production.

In a press release on Monday, the Agriculture Ministry said "Minister Valeriu Tabara shall never uphold a price hike policy for agri-food products, because it is unjustified at the moment," adding many dysfunctions on the market disfavor, in particular, raw material producers and consumers, while food processors and those selling food products siphon off profits in the system.

Ministry officials said subsidies are not the ones triggering price-related dysfunctions, but speculations involving agri-food products, which, they stressed, don't come from Romanian producers in the vegetal or animal sector.

"The agriculture minister will never allow any production takeover blackmail on Romanian raw material producers, either in the vegetal or animal sector. Therefore, the ministry believes an increase in prices of agri-food products is ungrounded and artificial at the moment", the press release also read.

However, Tabara said last week that the prices could increase by 8% to 10%, according to initial estimates.

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