Profi stores are capping markups early starting the weekend of July 15-16, helping their customers deal with the shock of recent excessive price increases.

“We support the government’s measure to combat the increase in prices of basic food products by restricting commercial applications, and we apply it even until August 1, the date when it becomes mandatory according to the government’s decree,” says Magda Amari, Profi’s director of operations . “We are convinced that the help we provide will be useful for our customers, who, in this case, we thank them for the trust they have placed in us,” the retailer said in a statement.

Starting from the weekend that just passed, all Profi stores have products with markup limits in accordance with the legislation to combat excessive food price increases, presented by Emergency Ordinance no. 67/2023, easier to find as they are marked on the shelf with a yellow label that says “ALREADY ADDED MICRO”.

As you know, the list of products covered by the order of the Romanian government: simple whole white bread weighing from 300 g to 500 g, without special features; fresh cow’s milk 1 liter, fat content 1.5%, except for UHT; Telemea bulk cheese made from cow’s milk; natural yogurt from cow’s milk 3.5% fat with a maximum weight of 200 grams; white wheat flour “000” 1 kg; sorghum 1 kg; M caliber chicken eggs 10 pcs.; sunflower oil 1 l; fresh chicken meat (whole chicken, chicken cutlery, whole chicken thighs and chicken wings without bones, standard version); fresh pork (processed pork, boneless and boneless leg, loin); fresh bulk vegetables (tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, dried beans, carrots, bell peppers and capsicums); wholesale fresh fruit (red and golden apples, plums, watermelon, table grapes); fresh white potatoes in bulk; white sugar 1 kg.

Profi is the largest private employer in Romania, with 28,000 employees in its network of 1,654 own and partner stores in nearly 800 urban and rural settlements. PROFI SUPER, PROFI CITY, PROFI GO and PROFI LOCO, the chain’s four store formats, offer an assortment of 5,000 products that have been rated by more than 1.2 million customers who shop in these stores every day. More than 94% of the chain’s products come from Romanian suppliers.

Officials at the Competition Council say capping the commercial allowance risks aligning operators to the maximum ceiling

Most of the processors and retailers HotNews spoke to about the commercial addition restrictions confirmed they would not hesitate to implement the emergency order passed on Friday, but the processors said they would sell at a loss for some products on the list.

They are hoping that the government will not open a Pandora’s box and extend the 3-month deadline by adding other products with a limited allowance.

Even Competition Council officials say that adding a maximum of 20% to the cost of production, in the case of processors, respectively a maximum of 5% and 20% compared to the purchase price, in the case of distributors and traders, respectively, creates the risk of leveling operators at the maximum ceiling, which will lead to higher prices for end consumers.

This is considering that according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), Romania had the cheapest food in the EU in 2022.