Gintautas Paluckas: Lithuania will monitor the functioning of the Latvian food price agreement

 After the Latvian government, food producers and traders sign an agreement on reducing product prices, Lithuania will monitor how it works, says Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas.

„We will wait for the effect of such agreements and see if it is worth repeating them in Lithuania“, he told reporters at the government on Tuesday, when asked if Lithuania would follow Latvia's example.

G. Paluckas recalled that on his initiative a Food Council had been set up, which "is engaged in the transparency of the price chain" and is looking into the structure of food prices.

„I think it will give some confidence or at least clear accountability for the rising prices in the sectors that are doing it – we often argue about whether it is farmers or processors or traders – and then we can decide whether we can reach some kind of agreement based on that. (With traders – BNS), if it's the traders doing it, or with the processors, maybe point out who is increasing the primary cost of agricultural production and other things–, – said the head of government.

The memorandum signed in Latvia provides for three strands of food price containment: the establishment of a low-price basket, price comparison measures, and the promotion of trade in locally sourced products.

The Lithuanian Government has currently set up a Food Council with 27 members, including representatives from ministries, the Government, farmers, processors, traders, universities, and the Consumer Rights Protection Authority. 

It is tasked with monitoring changes in food prices and proposing ways to reduce them.