Basic food items such as bread (flour), eggs, oil, and meat were not included in the list of 50 products marked “zero percent margin”, which will be on sale at the end of this week in 22 retail chains throughout the Republika Srpska (RS), and the chances that their additions to the mentioned list are currently equal to zero.
“As for the products – there is milk, yogurt, sour cream, but of course, there is also Tyrolean sausage, as well as ham. There are also tomatoes, jams, and detergents for laundry and dishes, so we also have things related to household chemistry,” says Nedeljka Ilijic, president of the Citizens’ Association “Oaza” from Trebinje.
However, she does not hide that the list of products should have had higher priorities.
“In our opinion, we should also start reducing the prices of basic foodstuffs: flour, sugar, and of course, oil. But that does not mean that we will stop with what we have now, the list of these products will probably be expanded. It is good that it has been recognized and that efforts are being made to help citizens in RS, in order to alleviate this economic situation in any way,” believes Ilijic.
Flour is cheaper, but salaries have increased, is the answer of Sasa Trivic, owner of “Krajina Klas” and the bakery chain “Manja”, when asked if he, as a bakery owner, is thinking about making bread cheaper.
Trivic points out that no bread producer has a single price for this product and that everyone makes their own calculations.
“Despite the drop in the price of flour, it is evident that wages are rising and everything we earned on flour was lost on wages. Therefore, it remains for each baker to assess whether he has the possibility to make his products cheaper or not, depending of course on his productivity and financial situation. For now, we have no intention of correcting the prices. When this year ends, we will see what the financial result is, because, in the last few years, we have suffered a huge financial crisis, but now that situation is being improved,” said Trivic.
The price of domestic fruit will also wait for a reduction in the markets, and citizens will buy imported fruit as before.
Dragoja Dojcinovic, president of the RS Fruit Growers’ Association, explains that large retail chains import fruit because local producers cannot meet their demands.
“We had very little fruit production this year and the quality of fruit is bad. Mostly all of it went to the industry, and there will be imported fruit on the stalls, but we have information that the fruit imported is cheaper in Europe than it is here. It’s obvious that shopping centers and supermarkets don’t listen,” Dojcinovic stated, who is outraged by the story about discounts and margins, Biznis Info reports.
E.Dz.
