Foodstuff, Latvia, Markets and Companies

"Regardless of warm and sunny weather in Latvia, there have been various natural disasters elsewhere in the world. Prices for key food commodities have increased on global markets. Latvia will be no exception, and prices for food products will increase in the coming months," said LETA the Agricultural Market Promotion Center's head Inguna Gulbe, adding that the prices will increase by about 10-30%.

As reported, on August 20 Gulbe said that, taking into account the current developments on global markets, is is very likely that the prices of food products in Latvia will not decrease, without mentioning though how much the prices could increase.

"Prices for bread and meat will definitely increase, dairy products will also become more expensive," said Gulbe, adding though that the price increase will be partly offset by the sharp competition among producers in the region as well as the low purchasing capacity.

Gulbe also said that Latvian producers and retailers would not be able to raise the prices as much as they want – if they did, Lithuanians, Estonians or Germans would immediately use the opportunity to sell their less expensive products here.

As for the bread and meat prices, which Gulbe said would certainly increase, this will happen because of the higher price of electricity, fuel and increasing labor costs, she explained.