Even the Chamber of Agriculture headed by Fidesz MP fed up with price freeze on food items

It would be advisable to phase out the price freeze as soon as possible

– a statement published on Wednesday on the website of the National Chamber of Agriculture (NAK) concludes. The organisation can hardly be described as a group critical of the government: Its president is Balázs Győrffy, who has been a Fidesz MP since 2010 and is also vice-chairman of the parliamentary agriculture committee.

The Chamber, considers it worrisome that more and more foreign food products are once again appearing on the shelves of supermarkets. "It is an unfortunate trend that retailers, in order to compensate for the losses caused by the price cap, have significantly increased the volume of imported products in segments where Hungarian producers have gained a strong market position in recent years," the statement says, listing some of these product groups, such as dairy products and meat products.

According to the organisation, Hungarian food prices have been well below the European average in recent years, not following the dramatic rise in agricultural production and food production costs. The chamber explains that the war in Ukraine and "the policy of sanctions, have significantly weakened the European Union's economy" and have led to a surge in production costs and consumer prices.

Now, however, based on European agricultural and food trends, the increase of prices is expected to slow down, the Chamber states. According to them, this is why price freezes should be lifted "in order to avoid a decline in the position of Hungarian products and to maintain the trust that has been established between Hungarian traders and producers over the past few years".

László Parragh, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who is also considered to be close to Fidesz, last week said that it was time to lift the price freezes. In a highly controversial speech to a parliamentary committee meeting in December, MNB President György Matolcsy also condemned the price caps, saying: 'price caps are causing a 3-4% inflation surplus, and they should be removed immediately'.