By Georgia Michael
The anxiety and uncertainty brought by the pandemic was intensified by the military conflict in Ukraine as two countries that accounted for a large percentage of raw material exports were involved.
In several countries in Europe, supermarkets began capping the quantities of products as shortages began to occur. How far away is the scenario of imposing a cap on products in the Cypriot market and how much has movement in the retail sector been affected by the continued accuracy?
At the moment there is no justification for a cap, said General Secretary of the Pancyprian Retail Trade Association, Marios Antoniou, who spoke to the Cyprus Times, while describing the movement in the market as numb.
"Apart from the supermarkets and the food sector where there is steady footfall and consumption, the rest of retail is numb. Uncertainty and insecurity is not driving consumption of clothing and footwear or other purchases. As far as the issue of capping quantities of specific products is concerned, there is no reason to do so. There is no shortage or problem that would create such a movement, at least at the moment. From the market and the information I have from suppliers do not have any shortage and nor at least in the next period is expected to be a shortage of a product."
Asked to answer whether we can determine the timeframe that we will definitely have a sufficient supply of products, Mr. Antoniou said that this cannot be easily answered as there are unforeseen circumstances. "But what I can say is that the major suppliers in Cyprus keep 30 to 40 days' stocks in their warehouses. They know because of the pandemic and the problems it has brought to the supply chain that an order should be placed much earlier as there are delays in some ports. For example, a number of products are coming from England. Until three months ago there was a direct line from England to Limassol, at the moment from England it goes to Rotterdam and then Piraeus and from there another ship takes them to Limassol. This inevitably creates a delay. However this was the case before the war started. It is something we are now familiar with."
He stressed that there is no indication that people should be concerned. "The big problem that exists is on the issue of raw materials either for human consumption or for animal feed. So far we have been supplied, mainly with fodder by Bulgaria, where the Ministry of Agriculture has gone to secure strategic stocks. Of course at a very high cost because prices have shot up."
Asked whether exploitation by shopkeepers has been observed, he wanted to use the words of the President of the Pancyprian Consumers Association that in retail trade there is no exploitation, no obscenity. "Some increases that should have been reflected months ago were absorbed by both suppliers and retailers because we thought it was something temporary because of the pandemic and it was only a matter of time before they normalised and we came to reality. Unfortunately the war came and turned the situation around.Russia and Ukraine account for 30% of raw material exports so unfortunately the situation will not normalisequickly and as long as the war continues there will be more economic impact across Europe."
Asked to comment whether this translates into new price increases in the coming period Mr. Antoniou was content to reply that "These days the increases are reflected in some products. Already this week the poultry and pig farmers have announced and sent to the supermarkets the new increases they are asking for. Fortunately in Cyprus there is strong competition in this sector and therefore not all the increase they have requested will reach the final consumer."
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
