Ljubljana - A website enabling consumers to compare the retail prices of basic food products was launched today as part of government measures targeting the cost-of-living crisis.

Presenting the details of the measure meant to discourage retailers from excessive price hikes, Agriculture Minister Irena Šinko said the goal was "protecting households facing high food prices and lower purchasing power due to inflation, sustaining the entire population and spreading the burden of rising prices along the entire food supply chain".

The website, which will be tracking the prices at retailer chains Mercator, Spar, Tuš, Engrotuš, Hofer, Lidl and Eurospin, will provide consumers with information on the prices as well as the origin and quality of individual products.

"If this measures proves insufficient, the government will take action under the price controls act and demand price data from all stakeholders in the chain. These data will not be publicly available, they will be for government use and decision-making only," Šinko said.

The list of 15 food products being followed includes white wheat flour, white bread and pasta, beef and pork steaks and chicken fillets, milk, liquid yoghurt, cheese and butter, eggs, apples, potatoes, sunflower oil and white sugar.

An extended list including five more items in season presently also includes bell peppers, onion, tomatoes, pears and pumpkin. More items will be added later according to need and seasonal availability.

Prices on the website, accessible through the web portal Naša Super Hrana (Our Super Food) at https://www.nasasuperhrana.si/primerjava-cen/, will be updated every two weeks.

The monitoring already began at the start of September and will be conducted until the end of March 2023, during which time comparisons will also be made three times with the prices of the selected foods in Austria, Italy and Croatia.

The government picked the Ljubljana-based company April 8 as the contractor, having received three bids in total, April 8's being worth about EUR 47,000.

Meanwhile, a critical response to the measure has come from the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry (KGZS), whose president Roman Žveglič said it cannot bring serious results because it is only comparing retail prices.

"We welcome the government's intention to fix the relations in the food supply chain, but farmers are the weakest link in this chain," he told the press.

Stressing that product labels should also feature information on what share of the final price falls on each stakeholder in the chain, Žveglič said retailers are reportedly not allowing the food processing industry to raise prices.

The food processing industry in turn is not buying at higher prices from farmers, while the hands of the latter are tied, he said, arguing the increase in farm gate prices has not been sufficient to cover the higher input costs.

Žveglič fears that "we will become increasingly dependent on imports of increasingly low-quality food stemming from market surpluses".

The food supply chain ombudsman, Igor Hrovatič, believes the new website will affect retail prices and has expressed concern that this will cause pressure on producers to sell at lower prices.

The Chamber of Commerce (TZS) was reserved in its response, with its head Mariča Lah saying she could not engage in a detailed commentary.

This is a government measure, and time and consumers will tell whether the basic goal - helping consumers find an optimal basket of basic food products - will have been reached, she said.

Lah explained the chamber had cooperated with the government in the first phase when the groups of basic products were being selected, while it was no longer involved in the picking of the products from these groups.