Romanian Producers, Retailers Sign Good Practices Guide

Agriculture minister Dacian Ciolos mediated talks between retailers and producers and said the Guide will contribute to a higher transparency of prices paid by consumers and might trigger lower prices.

Ciolos also said they agreed to include the Guide in the preamble of contracts between  producers and retailers, to serve as guarantee.

Sorin Minea, head of Romalimenta employers’ association in the food industry, thinks the measures included in the Guide will trigger lower prices, stressing the countries where such measures were taken (Spain – e.n.) saw a decrease in prices in only four months.

The Guide was signed by the representatives of retailers Metro Cash&Carry, real – Hypermarket, Cora, Selgros Cash&Carry, Carrefour, Auchan and Kaufland, and by the representatives of employers’ associations in the food industry, namely, Romalimenta, the Romanian meat association, the employers’ association in the milk industry, the national employers’ association in the wine and vineyard industry,  Rompan owners’ association in the milling and bakery industry, the Romanian employers’ association in the pork industry and the national union of poultry breeders.

The Guide clearly stipulates that all signatories, as well as any other producer or retailer shall observe the document once it comes into force.

The guide refers, among others, to ways of establishing the sale price, which is negotiable and depends on the advantages offered to the retailer (discounts, bonused) and the costs of the services provided by the retailer and invoiced onto the producer.

The guide also stipulates that retailers are not allowed to compel producers to pay part of the costs with the marketing process, as well as with opening or upgrading stores, or to ban them from selling their products to other retailers at a lower price. Moreover, producers are banned from imposing any conditions on the retailer as to keeping a certain shelf price.