Viktor Orbán Announces It is over for Unjustified Price Increases

Enough is enough, we are putting an end to unjustified price increases, announced the Prime Minister on his social media page on Tuesday.

In a video shared on his Facebook page Viktor Orbán explained that the government has been communicating with representatives of retail chains in recent days to put an end to unjustified and excessive price increases.

“Unfortunately, the retailers’ offers were far below our expectations, hence we had to decide to introduce measures for the trade,” he said, adding that

from mid-March, traders’ margins on 30 basic foodstuffs must not exceed 10%.

Viktor Orbán pointed out that in the past this margin was 40% for eggs and more than 80% for butter and sour cream, which is unacceptable.

“The prices of all foodstuffs where the margin has increased should be reduced. The consumer price should not be more than 10% above the purchase price. This will be monitored,” said the Prime Minister.

Viktor Orbán emphasized that

these measures will be introduced in mid-March and will remain until the end of May. After this time period “we will review the prices and continue if necessary.

We will put an end to excessive and unjustified price increases,” he emphasized.

The affected food products include chicken breast fillet, chicken leg, chicken backs, chicken wings, whole chicken, turkey breast fillet, UHT milk with a fat content of 1.5% and of 2.8%, ESL milk with a fat content of 1.5% and of 2.8%, cooking oil, margarine, pork fat, butter, white flour, strudel flour, late-season potatoes, granulated sugar, pork leg, pork chop, pork ribs, pork neck, eggs, sour cream, Trappist cheese, curd, natural yogurt, fruit yogurt, garlic and Bologna sausage, Viktor Orbán added in a comment.

The Ministry for National Economy conducted intensive consultations with the market participants and expected an explanation from the retail chains at the beginning of this week. The government already announced last week that it would intervene by all means to curb food inflation. As part of the voluntary price cuts, the Ministry for National Economy expects retailers to help stabilize food prices by reducing their current profit margins.

Economy Ministry Gives Retailers Ultimatum to Stabilize Food Prices