In the coming months, there is no reason to expect a drop in food prices in Latvia, the Executive Director of the Latvian Food Retailers Association (LPTA), Noris Krūzītis, told LETA.
He explained that weather conditions, both in Latvia and in other countries, have negatively affected harvests, which will increase costs.
“For retailers, it will be almost impossible to ensure both product availability and lower prices, so alternatives for procurement will also be sought abroad. However, retailers will continue to keep prices for the basic products in the low-price basket as low as possible,” Krūzītis added.
He said the greatest achievement of the memorandum on reducing food prices and the low-price basket initiative is that in the most important food product categories for consumers, there are products whose prices have not increased, even when there are objective reasons for them to do so.
At the same time, he stressed that
since the start of the year, food retailers have been receiving daily requests to raise prices for a wide range of products
from both domestic and foreign suppliers. According to him, the reasons are objective – rising raw material prices, unfavourable weather conditions, and the need to import seasonal products from other countries, which creates pressure for prices to rise.
The memorandum stipulates that for the basic products in the low-price food basket across ten product groups, retailers must ensure the lowest market price whenever possible.
Krūzītis pointed out that this has been achieved because prices for these products have not increased, even when there were objective reasons for them to rise.
“This is a direct result of the memorandum. The Consumer Rights Protection Centre (PTAC) regularly monitors the situation and has confirmed that the prices of goods in the low-price basket have not changed,” the association’s executive director added.
As reported,
in July this year, consumer prices in Latvia increased by 0.1% compared to June,
and by 3.8% year-on-year – the same inflation rate as the previous month, according to the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB). Meanwhile, the average consumer price level over the past 12 months rose by 2.9% compared to the previous 12-month period.
It was also reported that on the 27th of May this year, a memorandum on reducing food prices was signed. The memorandum provides for the introduction of a low-price food basket, a price comparison tool, and an increase in the share of locally produced goods in stores.
The creation of the low-price food basket means that in each of ten product categories, there must be at least one product with the lowest price in the category, and these products will be regularly replaced with other items from the same category.
The price comparison tool will require retailers to submit information once a day
on the lowest prices to the CSB, which will publish them. The data will be available both to various price comparison platforms and on the Ministry of Economics website.
However, introducing the price comparison tool requires amendments to the Consumer Rights Protection Law to oblige retailers to provide this data to the CSB.
The memorandum also includes promotional campaigns for local food products.
The memorandum was signed by Minister of Economics Viktors Valainis (ZZS), Krūzītis, Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LTRK) Board Chairman Jānis Endziņš, and Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Central Union of Dairy Farmers Jānis Šolks. It was also signed by Chairwoman of the Latvian Food Enterprises Federation Council Ināra Šure, Chairman of the Cooperation Council of Agricultural Organisations Guntis Gūtmanis, Chairman of the Board of the “Farmers’ Parliament” Juris Lazdiņš, PTAC Director Zaiga Liepiņa, and other partners.
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