Large retailers under pressure: Romanian products, a priority on the shelf for Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu

Large retailers must facilitate access for Romanian products to store shelves, said Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, following his meeting with Florin Barbu, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, at the end of last week. The Head of Government sounded the alarm regarding the obstacles encountered by local entrepreneurs and announced a series of measures to support them: "There is still one problem: the access of Romanian producers to large store chains, to retailers. And the Minister will start, next week (ed. - this week), a discussion with all retailers in Romania on this area."

The Prime Minister stressed that it is essential to analyze European legislation in order to identify solutions that allow local producers to compete fairly on the market. "Romanians, as is normal, must be advantaged. We will take out all the European legislation and make a comparison. We are looking at the Directive, so that, competitively, local producers have real chances", stated Marcel Ciolacu, who also drew attention to the bulk import of certain products, which are then packaged in our country, a phenomenon that creates an unfair advantage for large retailers to the detriment of local processors.

With an agri-food trade deficit of approximately 3 billion euros at the end of 2024, the Government wants to reduce imbalances through a strategy that encourages the internal processing of raw materials and reduces dependence on imports.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stated: "Romania exports a lot of raw materials and imports processed materials. Next week, we will do a specific analysis of the deficit, so that we can see where we still need to intervene with programs. ".

He stated that the Executive will continue financing support programs for vulnerable sectors, such as pork, a sector in which our country registers one of the largest trade deficits.

"We will continue this targeted policy, so that we reduce the trade deficit and Romanians have access to as many Romanian products produced and processed in Romania as possible", said the Head of Government.

Regarding the evolution of prices for agri-food products, the Prime Minister assured that they are "in a reasonable area" and warned companies not to increase costs unjustifiably.

Marcel Ciolacu stated: "I have not seen any price increases for gas, energy or fuels. If we do not reach a gentlemen's agreement with the companies, the Government and Parliament have an instrument called a law. I would not like us to reach that area".

In turn, Florin Barbu, the Minister of Agriculture, indicated that the MADR budget for the current year will cover all financing needs and it is expected that, following the investments that the state makes in agriculture and animal husbandry, over the next 3 years we will no longer have an agri-food trade deficit.