Retailers announce first price cuts

The big retailers have introduced the first permanent price cuts on products imported from the European Union, as the stocks of goods imported last year on which customs duties were paid have been sold. Some FMCG categories such as dairy products, vegetables, fruits and spirits are now 20% cheaper in most hypermarket networks. Price cuts of over 20% have begun on LCD monitors, plasma TV screens and home-cinema systems, on which a 42% custom duty was levied in the past. “We altered the pricing on imported LCD monitors, plasma screens, TV sets and DVD players in two stages: the first stage was started last November, when the prices were cut by approximately 20%, we then cut prices further this January, slashing prices by 10-15%,” said Real Hypermarket representatives. The Carrefour hypermarket network has also revised its pricing on products that were previously affected by custom duties and introduced price cuts ranging between 10-20% on dairy products, pork and spirits, according to the data disclosed by Carrefour Romania. “Imports will definitely increase – especially imports of products that are currently unavailable on the domestic market. Producers from other EU countries will be interested in the Romanian market, particularly because the country has a population of approximately 21.7 million,” stated Andreea Mihai, marketing manager at Carrefour.