Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak has announced a campaign against what he says is the murky and misleading price setting mechanisms that have led to unnecessary price increases. "Until now we have fought a battle, now we're making it a war on inflation," Vizjak told the press in Ljubljana on Wednesday.
"Evidently the gentlemen would like to maximise their profit, which is why they are concealing real information and are shifting the blame on who has taken the biggest share in the latest price increases," Vizjak said in a reference to bosses of grocers and suppliers.
Vizjak said he was sure that prices of bread could have remained unchanged had the retailers and suppliers taken extra measures to reduce the amount of bread that goes unsold. He said Slovenia was a record-holder in terms of bread that gets dumped, while nothing had been done to increase efficiency. "This is the reserve that would have avoided the price hike."
"It is not acceptable that bakers and retailers have secured themselves the major share by blaming higher wheat prices, since the farmer gets the least in this chain," he said.
He said the suppliers and retailers were trying to avoid giving substantive answers on the issue. Mechanisms in place for setting the price of bread lacked transparency, Vizjak stressed.
He said the Market Inspectorate and Competition Protection Office would impose heavy sanctions on those whose abuse their position or break the law. Vizjak also called for pressure from the public: "To point the finger at those who are abusing the changeover to the euro to increase their profits."
According to Vizjak, a comparison to Austria has showed that prices of bread are similar, the structure of prices is similar, which is why he expects that everyone in the chain will be equal instead of the profits being accumulated to be used to finance management buyouts.
Vizjak said that the proposed changes to the anti-trust legislation increase sanctions against violators of the law, while the ministry was also trying to bolster the operations of the Competition Protection Office.
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