Increase in food prices, ungrounded and artificial, says Agriculture Minister

Romania’s Agriculture Minister Valeriu Tabara (in picture) said an increase in prices of agri-food products is ungrounded and artificial, adding food processors and those selling food products siphon off profits in the system, to the detriment of raw material producers and consumers. "Agriculture Minister Valeriu Tabara shall never uphold a price hike policy for agri-food products, because it is unjustified at the moment", the Agriculture Ministry has said, adding many dysfunctions on the market disfavor, in particular, raw material producers and consumers, while food processors and those selling food products siphon off profits in the system. Ministry officials said subsidies are not the ones triggering price-related dysfunctions, but speculations involving agri-food products, which, they stressed, don't come from Romanian producers in the vegetal or animal sector. "The agriculture minister will never allow any production takeover blackmail on Romanian raw material producers, either in the vegetal or animal sector. Therefore, the ministry believes an increase in prices of agri-food products is ungrounded and artificial at the moment", according to the Ministry. Romanian consumer prices rose 0.56 percent on the month in September, largely driven by higher food and service prices, while the annual inflation accelerated to a fresh two-year high at 7.77 percent, the country's statistics institute INS said Monday. Mediafax