Croatian retail prices higher than Hungary, Slovenia
June 9, 2022 – Inflation continues to cause problems in all areas and Croatian retail prices have proven to be higher than in neighboring Hungary and Slovenia. Why?
Cat Business Diary writes that in one year a kilogram of wheat went up by 80 percent, a kilogram of corn by 61 percent, flour by 55 percent, oil by 50 percent, milk by 20 percent and beef bought from butchers by 20 percent. HNZ reports. The rise in Croatian retail prices was a recent topic on HTV’s Otvoreno show, in which Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković announced new measures for farmers, including an aid program worth about 30 million euros.
Asked about a possible new state intervention due to rising food prices, Vuckovic said that the latest major package of government measures to help both people and companies came into force on April 1 this year and is worth 4.8 billion kuna.
“Of course we will continue to try to react as we have shown in recent years,” she assured before announcing some new measures for farmers. Among other things, she announced a measure that will be aimed primarily at cattle breeders, but mainly at the purpose of further protection of breeding herds.
“I will also announce emergency aid to farmers affected by natural disasters,” she added, adding that “this will be followed by an additional aid program for different sectors, covering micro, small and medium-sized agricultural entities. and processing, which will be worth about 30 million euros. “
She also said that the aid would exceed 300 million kuna.
Zvonimir Sirjan, president of the Baby Beef Association, said that Croatian cattle breeders are close to stopping production because the prices they achieve on the market are significantly lower than the price of the production process itself. “They simply cannot cover all the costs,” Sirjan added.
He pointed out that corn could rise by up to 3 kuna in the autumn, while food industry consultant Zvjezdana Blažič said that corn was already close to this price and was growing all the time. However, she added that the global food index had fallen slightly, including maize, which fell 3.5 per cent globally in May compared to April.
Blazic added that the war in Ukraine caused the biggest blow to the harvest of oilseeds, followed by cereals.
Vjekoslav Budanec, president of the Association of Croatian Vegetable Growers, said limiting the rise in raw material prices would help them.
Ivica Katavić, president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), said that the whole series of price increases had greatly reduced the importance of the measures, which he said were extraordinary. ” Prices are rising day by day. We have daily notifications that there will be a rise in prices from the 1st of next month, and we simply do not see an end to that, ” he said.
He said traders have huge competition on their hands and that no one can afford to play with high prices and margins.
“We do not need the supervision of the state inspectorate, we have our clients who are our judges and executors who will decide whether what is being sold is good or worth it or not,” Katavic said.
Why do both neighboring Slovenia and Hungary have lower prices in stores compared to Croatian retail prices? Katavič said this is a very good question.
“People who would be Croatian buyers go shopping across the border every day, because they also know that they may be able to buy something cheaper than they could get from us,” he added. Blažič said that in this situation, which affected the whole of Europe, the Republic of Croatia had only an average increase in food prices, unlike, for example, Hungary, where food prices rose significantly more.
“In all countries closer to Ukraine, prices have risen drastically more than in Croatia, which had average price growth,” she added. Blažič said that Croatian producers are technically much less equipped – the productivity of this country, according to her, is around 30 percent of the European Union average.
“When we talk about the countries from which we import the most food, this is many times more. Germany is six times more productive in agriculture than our domestic producers and our product thus becomes more expensive and therefore uncompetitive,” they explained. Blazic.
Sirjan disagreed.
“Croatia’s retail prices are the same or significantly lower than in these markets,” he said. Instead, he noted that a valuable source of agricultural land, especially state-owned land, has become absolutely inaccessible to increasingly serious agricultural producers who could grow it. much more and better if they had it.Vučković said that they have adopted amendments to the law on agricultural land that want to meet Croatia’s strategic needs.
“We cannot and must not give an absolute advantage to any sector, to any criteria. This is not good for the competition, we have changed that,” she said. Regarding new investments and technologies, Vučković said that it was true that Croatia was only in the first place. one third of the EU’s average productivity, as well as the fact that the country has grown faster than many other Member States in recent years in terms of productivity.
Budanec said the question is who can invest in new technology at these prices today.
“If we barely survive to stay in production at all, how are we going to invest in new technologies, robotics and the rest? And we know that labor has become extremely expensive. Vegetables are labor-intensive, “he said. Should we be afraid that at these Croatian retail prices, some food will simply not be found on the shelves of the state?
Katavić said that he was absolutely convinced that there would be no shortage of food in Croatia.
“Our input channels are solid, I think we showed that during the coronavirus pandemic and will continue to be so,” he said.
Blažič said that the Croatian agricultural structure is currently really in favor of having those products that could be in short supply in Europe and on the world market, namely cereals and oilseeds. “And in that sense, we should never be left without these products if we handle them wisely,” she said. She added that there is sometimes a shortage in Europe, even in highly developed countries such as Germany, and believes that Croatia should start thinking about saving food and not throwing it away.
Katavic added that it was certain that Croatian retail prices would continue to rise for some time, but expressed hope that after the situation calmed down and prices stabilized, they would return to at least approximately the level they were before the war in Ukraine. . Blazic said that food prices will probably be very difficult to return to the level at which they were sold only a few years ago.
“Until two years ago, food was actually quite cheap. We shouldn’t talk about returning cheap food anymore,” she warned. Sirjan said that he was optimistic and that he did not think that Croatian retail prices would not be. He called on domestic consumers to buy products from Croatian farms of proven quality.
See our lifestyle section for more.