Belarus has introduced maximum retail price caps for potatoes, effective from 15 November. The Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART) Artur Karpovich explained to the newspaper Respublika how these prices were determined.
“Every figure has been carefully calculated, including, in particular, the costs incurred by agricultural organisations for cultivation — weather conditions challenged our farmers this year, but they managed to set acceptable producer prices. These figures also include storage costs, delivery, and the retail markup.
Moreover, these prices represent the maximum that a customer should see on the shop shelf. They may be lower. But not higher — that would constitute a violation of pricing legislation.
This entails fines. In cases of major or repeated violations, we may also temporarily suspend a store’s operations — we have that authority. Naturally, we will examine the entire chain: if a producer ‘made a mistake’, they will be held responsible; if it was the retailer, then they will be,” he said.
The maximum retail prices per kilogram are:
- potatoes — 1.07 roubles,
- beetroots — 1.17 roubles,
- carrots — 1.35 roubles,
- cabbage — 1.62 roubles,
- onions — 1.68 roubles,
- apples — 4.8 roubles.
One Belarusian rouble is approximately equal to 0.29 euros.