The expansion of the supermarket and hypermarket sector in Serbia over the past 15 years has not brought benefits to consumers or small farmers, but only contributed to cementing existing monopolies.
These are the main conclusions of the agricultural forum “Food for Europe”, held in Serbia’s northern town of Subotica.
An analysis by Serbia's Economic Institute for the period 2000-2012 reveals a significant increase in retail prices of many product categories. For example, pork prices have gone up by 60%; apples and chicken meat by 83%; potatoes by 87%; beans by 106%; and milk by as much as 119%. At the same time, local agricultural products have reportedly lost value.
The director of the Economic Institute, Dragan Sagovnovic, said that the "hypermarket revolution" did not provide primary producers with access to consumers and the market, nor did the higher concentration of hypermarkets bring about a reduction in food prices.
In view of this situation, the Economic Institute has proposed to the Ministry of Trade a project to establish a system for monitoring the prices of agricultural food products in Serbia.
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
