There will be no skyrocketing food prices, Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said on Tuesday after meeting representatives of food producers, retailers, the Croatian Employers' Associations and trade union federations.
The government will be monitoring food prices on a weekly basis. If necessary, the government can intervene with its own measures, Kosor said. She noted that the government could intervene by selling wheat from commodity reserves, but added that she thought that would not be necessary.
Food prices have gone up by 2.5 per cent on average -- bread prices have risen by 1.5 per cent and those of milk, cheese and eggs by 2.4 per cent, while meat prices have fallen by 3.6 per cent, the PM said.
The CEO of the Konzum retail chain, Darko Knez, said that food prices had increased because of a rise in producer prices. He said there were no indications that prices would continue to rise.
The CEO of the Osijek-based Pekarna Kruna bakery, Mato Skojo, said that food prices would not be allowed to get out of hand, adding that minor increases were possible, but that prices of the cheapest types of bread would stay the same.
The leader of the Independent Trade Unions (NHS), Kresimir Sever, said that the trade unions were pleased with the message from the meeting that there would be no increases of food prices in the near future, but stressed that many other vital issues had not yet been dealt with, such as the issue of Value Added Tax on basic food products.
