Commercial surcharges, discounts, re-invoicing – the Ministry of Agriculture proposes new measures against unfair commercial practices
The similar commercial surcharge on the same product category, the prohibition of re-invoicing and the elimination of discounts below the production price, are the three urgent measures proposed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Florin Barbu, for “a fair relationship between producers and retailers”, writes Agerpres.
The minister specifies, in a post on Facebook, that the three measures will be included in the completion of the legislation on unfair commercial practices.
In his opinion, in practice, the commercial mark-up for Romanian products reaches 80%, while the same imported products have a commercial mark-up of 20%.
As for the proposal to ban re-invoicing, Barbu says that a processor sells a product to a retailer, the retailer pays all the expenses, both indirect and direct, and the commercial addition. “After selling that product, the merchant goes to the Romanian processor and re-invoices him up to 25% of the value, because he arranged that merchandise in the store or 'promoted' that product,” the minister explained.
Also, according to Minister Barbu, the practice of discounts “pushes the Romanian processor to work at a loss”. “It is not fair that the trader's business strategy should be placed on the shoulders of the Romanian producer”, Florin Barbu believes.
“On the route between the Romanian farmer and the consumer, additions appear that raise many question marks”
Moreover, the Minister of Agriculture requested, on Friday, the Competition Council to check the additions that appear on the route between the farmer and the consumer.
“Why are Romanian farmers forced to sell their production to offshore companies in Cyprus in order to access the supermarket market in Romania? The Competition Council should urgently investigate! I talked to farmers, analyzed data and went to the stores. I entered a supermarket of a large German retailer. On the shelves I found a lot of pork, the country of origin: Spain – close to the expiry date – and very little Romanian meat, at prices higher than the import price. Today, at the farm gate, the pig is sold for approximately 4.3 lei/kg, and in the supermarket the meat ends up costing on average between 20 and 28 lei”, Minister Florin Barbu wrote on his Facebook page.
He pointed out that farmers are forced to sell below the cost of production or close their farms, while the consumer pays more and more for imported meat.
“On the route between the Romanian farmer and the consumer, there are additions that raise many question marks. Because of these mechanisms, Romanian farms are closing, and Romanians are paying more and more for food. That is why I draw the attention of the Competition Council to check who wins from this chain and why Romanian farmers and consumers have to pay dearly!”, wrote Barbu.
He also exemplified the situation in the poultry district where he discovered that over 60% of the products are labeled under a single brand – Gustavi – owned by a company established in 2024, with 5 employees, which in turn is owned by an offshore company from Cyprus.
“Such companies only sell products of large Romanian producers. In other words, products of Romanian companies, such as Avicola Crevedia, Coco Rico, Morandi, Avicola Focşani or EuroAvi, with hundreds of employees and real production, which do not have access to the shelf. How does a company from Cyprus end up filling the shelves of supermarkets in Romania with products obtained from ours? I said it and I repeat it: the Ministry of Agriculture has no control powers, but it will involve together with the Competition Council and all other authorities to stop these unfair commercial practices!”, the Minister of Agriculture also pointed out.
