Shortage of price capped products, Hungarian minister blames comsumers

More and more shops are running shortages of food with official prices. According to the shopkeepers interviewed by RTL Híradó, this is because it is almost impossible to get hold of products with a price cap. Or, if they can, it is much more expensive than the price at which they can sell them.

According to the Minister of Agriculture, there is a shortage because people are stocking up. István Nagy also said that food price inflation in Hungary seems to be high because prices had been low. Opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said this was not true and that the government should alleviate the situation by cutting VAT.

Shortage of price capped products

“The sugar is usually here, but unfortunately there is none now,” a shop assistant in Pécs showed the place of the officially priced granulated sugar. According to customers interviewed by RTL Híradó, the situation is hard. One customer saied it’s particularly bad now that there is no sugar because the holidays are coming and people want to bake something.

But it’s not just sugar that’s in short supply. More and more shops are having problems sourcing other officially priced products, such as milk or oil. The reason is that they can only buy them at a much higher price than they can sell them. “For us, it’s a big enough expense as it is. Not just with sugar, but all these other products,” says Krisztina Nagy, manager.

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The minister thinks it’s the consumers’ fault

Minister of Agriculture István Nagy talked to InfoRadio. He said the reason there is a shortage of these products is because people are stocking up. “If there is a price capped product – granulated sugar – on the shelf, then if we once bought one kilo, we should now buy two. Or we should buy a whole pack, because it won’t go bad, it will be good in the pantry. And then it will be gone and the other two neighbours won’t have enough”, the minister explained.

István Nagy also said that the price caps could stay in place until sometime in the second half of next year. He added that the record food price rises in Hungary are due to the previous cheapness. He thinks that it’s not that food is expensive now, it’s that food had been cheap in the past.

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Opposition parties disagree

The party Democratic Coalition (DK) says this is not true. On 10 May and 23 November, the party bought the same products in the same shop on a trial purchase. Six months later, the total amount of the bill was 48 percent higher. “Viktor Orbán can invoke sanctions, whatever he likes. But this inflation is his fault, caused by his mismanagement. The best evidence of Orbánian inflation every single day is the receipt we get at the grocery store,” said Olga Kálmán. DK believes that the government could help consumers by reducing VAT.

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Source: rtl.hu, Inforádió