Following last week's discussions with the association of modern retailers, who account for over 70% of the domestic trade, the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture decided to give up expanding the price-capping system and instead set up a price monitoring committee.

The ministry's proposal to expand the price markup system from a list of basic food goods as of now to all food goods produced or processed in Romania was severely criticised by all business associations consulted by the authorities. 

Primarily, the system would have breached the functioning market principles, and secondly, its implementation would have generated high complexity.

"We have decided that in the next period, we will create a monitoring committee that will include three representatives of the retail area, three representatives of the processors, one representative of the Competition Council, and one from the ministry, and I will coordinate the group," announced minister of agriculture Florin Barbu, as reported by Ziarul Financiar.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)