Photo: Marin Tironi/PIXSELL

ZAGREB, 28 January 2022 – In December 2021, food prices in Croatia continued their growth that started in July, and year-on-year they were up to 8.1% higher, while that the inflation rate was 5.5%, the highest since October 2008, when it stood at 5.9%, Večernji List says, noting that food is also expensive due to high trade margins .

At the EU level, the price of food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco only increased by 3.2% in December and inflation by 5%, which some analysts justify as a first wave of growth Slower prices in Croatia while in wealthier countries, they say, prices rose at a faster rate initially.

Prices have only started to skyrocket in Croatia in the last few months and for some products, such as cooking oil, they have increased by more than 20%, which is now also happening in d ‘other EU markets where the standard of living is lower, such as the Czech Republic and Hungary, indicates the daily.

Croatia has never been a cheap country, especially when it comes to food, telecommunications services, various technical goods, etc., and this can also be attributed to high trade margins, the daily reports.

Tax expert Vlado Brkanić calculated that since 2010, four retail chains in Croatia have almost doubled their trading margins. In 2010 most trade margins were around 17% and in 2015 they were over 30%.

Some industry players claim that the high trade margins are also due to high logistics costs given the high seasonality of some Croatian regions for several months of the tourist season. However, Martin Evačić, CEO of retail chain NTL, which heads the retail sector of the Croatian Association of Employers, claims that the average trade margin in the EU is over 32%, while in Croatia, it is less than 25%.

With regard to food prices, Evačić says that they still do not follow the daily changing producer prices, noting that he expects state help in this regard, whether through the reduction or abolishing VAT, freezing the prices of basic foodstuffs or vouchers, which is what some poorer countries in the EU are already doing, the daily says.

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