The Trade Competition Council is monitoring the egg market for price gouging, given that they are no longer found in many stores, because producers prefer to export them at higher prices.
"If you remember a few years ago, when there was again a problem related to avian flu on farms in the Netherlands and Germany. There was again a shortage at European level and then it was the export from Romania to those markets and the prices increased. Yes, it is a European market, if prices increase in Western Europe, they will increase in Romania as well. What do we monitor? There should not be price gouging," trade competition chief Bogdan Chiritoiu said on Friday.
He added that fines were levied back then, as there was collusion among producers to increase prices.
"At the time we had indications, you remember that we slapped fines because we had evidence that egg producers increased prices by communicating with each other, coordinating with each other. I hope they have learned their lesson and will not do anything like that again. We are monitoring the situation carefully. But at the same time, it is good that we export, that we usually complain that foreign food comes to us, that there are large imports. Well, now I'm glad that we have Romanian producers who have the strength and can export abroad, earn money, bring money to the country as well," he added.
Romania has become the largest egg producer in the region in 2024 and has increased its poultry meat exports by 17%, Agriculture Minister Florin Barbu said on October 20 at a debate in the Chamber of Deputies of a simple motion tabled by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) against him.
"In 2024, Romania became the largest egg producer in the region and increased its poultry meat exports by 17%. Through the farms we have developed in the last two years, we provide 8.7 million accommodation places, which means that Romania's annual broiler production has increased by 100 million chickens. Today, Romania produces 590 million chickens annually, which secures our full coverage of local demand from domestic production and important quantities for export to countries such as Italy, France and the UK," Barbu said.
Comentează