Food prices do not depend only on the trade margin, considering that the purchase price of the product includes dependent costs, such as the costs of customs, forwarding services and other import costs of loading and unloading products, as well as the costs of transportation from the supplier's warehouse to the customer's warehouse. product insurance in transport and other costs incurred in connection with product procurement.
This is what the Union of Employers (UPCG) told "Vijesta", when they were asked to comment on how the recently adopted Government decision on limiting traders' margins will affect the price of products. The decision has not yet been published in the Official Gazette, so it has not entered into force.
Fines for not limiting margins are up to 10.000 euros, and will be monitored by the Market Inspection.
"The purchase price and all dependent, above-mentioned costs are the most significant items in the retail price. We are all witnesses of global events and anxiety over possible shortages of goods, mostly basic foodstuffs. When the demand is greater than the supply, there is inevitably an increase in the purchase price, and thus the retail price. "Montenegro is a small market, highly dependent on imports and global trends in the energy and food market, and therefore, unfortunately, with little possibility of a significant impact," said UPCG.
The government's decision stipulates that wholesale margins will be limited to five percent for flour, sugar, oil and salt in one-kilogram packages, and seven percent in retail.
UPCG said that the initial draft of the decision prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism limited the amount of the maximum margin for retail sales to five percent, and that employers indicated that this would be problematic.
"Companies that own several sales facilities (or in several cities in Montenegro), in that way, would not have covered the costs of distributing goods from warehouses to their facilities, which in the given conditions of unstable and constantly rising fuel prices, represents a significant cost. The total amount of the margin of five percent would go to cover the costs", said the UPCG, adding that after their suggestions, the Government accepted the proposal to limit the margins in retail to a higher amount of five percent.
They said that the proposed group of products for which margin limitation is foreseen is acceptable for companies dealing in the sale of food products.
The retail chains did not want to comment on whether the price of food would decrease and by how much. Mercator-CG companies briefly said that, as before, they will comply with all legal obligations and apply defined margins to the mentioned products, while "Franca" market said that they will have more information only after the official publication of the decision in the Official Gazette. .
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