Romania may cap retailers' markup to 20% for local food goods

Minister of agriculture Florin Barbu said that his ministry plans to draft a bill on capping the markup charged by retailers on all local food goods to 20%.

He said that the ministry's experts carried out a study and found that the retailers charge a higher markup on local food goods than on imported food goods. They will be allowed to charge any markup on the imported goods, according to minister Barbu, quoted by Startupcafe.ro.

Under the price capping mechanism in force until the end of the year, Romanian retailers can charge a markup of up to 20% for a list of basic food goods, irrespective of the origin.

Minister Barbu argued that the system, which had been in force since last autumn, brought food prices down.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)