Food Prices To Hike After Leu Depreciates For 1 Mo – Unionist

Frumosu said producers and traders should be “irresponsible” to hike food prices before one month of continuous depreciation of the leu.

FSIA head said the local currency depreciation would normally trigger a hike in food prices, given that Romania imports 70% of the meat it consumes, 80% of its fruit and vegetables consumption, 30% of the milk, and 330,000 tons of raw sugar a year.

Frumosu stated that Romania produces fruit and vegetables for maximum three months a year and imports milk, as the local milk does not meet EU standards.

In December, the leu depreciation mostly impacted the service prices, which rose by an average of 1.3%. Prices of food also rose 0.52%, but non-food products prices decreased by 0.47%.

Gas prices registered the highest growth rate in 2008, of 22.01%, followed by food prices, with a 20% price increase for cheese, a 19.29% piece hike for milk and an 18.10% higher price for vegetable oil.

The central bank computed Friday a daily indicative of RON4.2655 to the euro, compared with RON4.2764 Thursday.

In the last trade of 2008, the central bank computed an indicative of RON3.9852 to the euro, down 10.38% from RON3.6102 in the first trade of last year .