The first real signs are emerging from the memorandum on food price reduction, signed last month. Leading retail chains – Rimi, Maxima, and soon also Lidl – have introduced so-called low-price baskets. These ensure that at least one product in selected categories is offered at the lowest possible price, reports the public media outlet LSM.lv.
These baskets cover ten categories of goods: bread, milk, dairy products, vegetables, fruits and berries, meat, fish, eggs, oil, and flour. This means that in each of these categories, at least one product must be available at the lowest possible price.
However, food price analyst Ingūna Gulbe emphasizes that this initiative is not significantly different from previous practices, as the low-price baskets often include products that were already among the cheapest – mainly private-label goods of the retailers. According to Gulbe, the low-price basket is largely just a formalization of what was already in place.
“In my opinion, this is simply being officially declared now. In reality, the cheapest products – rice, buckwheat, milk, butter, and others – have already been available in both major retail chains, Maxima and Rimi. The only thing often missing was a special tag or label,” Gulbe explains.
In addition to low-price baskets, the memorandum also provides for the creation of a price comparison tool,
though it has not yet been implemented. The Saeima, in its final session before the summer recess, approved the necessary legal amendments for this. However, a Cabinet of Ministers decision is still needed to proceed, meaning – as LSM.lv notes – this tool is unlikely to appear in the next month.
As previously reported, on the 27th of May of this year, a memorandum on reducing food prices was signed. It includes the introduction of low-price food baskets, the implementation of a price comparison tool, and increasing the share of locally produced goods in stores.
The creation of the low-price basket requires that each of the ten product categories includes at least one product at the lowest price in that category, with regular rotation of items within the same category.
Meanwhile,
the price comparison tool envisions that retailers will submit their lowest price data once a day
to the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB), which will publish it. The data will be available for various price comparison tools and will also be published on the Ministry of Economics (MoE) website.
The implementation of the comparison tool will also require amendments to the Consumer Rights Protection Law, to mandate that retailers provide these data to the CSB.
Additionally, the memorandum foresees campaigns to promote local food products.
The memorandum was signed by Minister Valainis, Executive Director of the Latvian Food Retailers Association Noris Krūzītis, Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LTRK) Jānis Endziņš, and Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Dairy Farmers’ Union Jānis Šolks.
It was also signed by Chair of the Latvian Food Producers Federation Ināra Šure, Chairman of the Board of the Cooperation Council of Agricultural Organizations Guntis Gūtmanis, Chairman of the Board of the Zemnieku saeima (Farmers’ Parliament) Juris Lazdiņš, Director of the Consumer Rights Protection Center Zaiga Liepiņa, and other partners.
The goal set by the Ministry of Economics is to achieve a 20% price reduction in essential food product groups, as well as to increase the proportion of Latvian food products in stores.
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