The Competition Authority guaranteed today, in Parliament, that it will exercise its powers within the scope of the pact that provides for the application of a 0% VAT rate to a set of essential goods.
“This authority will exercise its powers so that this cannot be used to distort competition”, defended today the member of the Board of Directors of the Competition Authority, Miguel Moura e Silva, who was speaking at the Agriculture and Fisheries Commission, in this regard. of a PSD request to hear the entities that make up PARCA – Platform for Monitoring Relationships in the Food Chain, which was created in 2011.
To contain the impact of inflation on the Portuguese portfolio, the Government launched a set of measures, such as the application of a 0% VAT rate on a basket of essential food products and the reinforcement of support for production, an aid that will cost around 600 million euros to the State coffers.
The list of products with 0% VAT includes canned tuna, cod, bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, onions, broccoli, chicken, pork or olive oil.
The Pact for the Stabilization and Reduction of Food Prices, which was signed between the Government, the Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies (APED) and the Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP) also provides for an increase of 140 million euros in production support.
The executive also committed to ensuring the immediate renewal of extraordinary support for agricultural diesel, as well as support to mitigate increases in costs with fertilizers and fertilizers.
For the Competition, this measure does not disturb the price formation mechanism and safeguards the “efficient behavior of the market”.
At the same hearing, the General Director for the Consumer, Ana Catarina Fonseca, who has been a member of PARCA since 2015, defended that this dialogue platform can produce “extremely important information for all players” of the chain, noting that there are still “great challenges” in terms of communicating with consumers and informing them, “accurately”, about their rights and duties.
With regard to the follow-up commission for the price reduction pact, Ana Catarina Fonseca said she believes in “cooperation and dialogue” and therefore expects a “good job” from this body.
In turn, the director general of the Office of Planning, Policies and General Administration, Eduardo Diniz, who referred that this entity has had secretarial functions at PARCA since 2011, underlined that there are issues, within the macroeconomic context that led to the rise in prices .
Eduardo Diniz stated that agrifood inflation is not a “Portuguese singularity”, although in the country it has been felt “sharply and higher than general inflation”, adding that the 'drivers' of the inflationary process are external to the national market and that the structure of the agri-food value chain increases inflationary risks.
The general director of economic activities, Fernanda Ferreira Dias, clarified that this department is also in charge of PARCA's secretariat, highlighting its "vast activity" nationally and internationally, with departments dedicated to topics such as European affairs, business sustainability or statistics.
The last interventions at the opening of this meeting were the responsibility of the Government.
The Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services, Nuno Fazenda, recalled that the increase in food prices was almost three times the rise in inflation.
“This increase demands and has been demanding answers and explanations and concrete actions to reduce food prices. This is more pressing when gas and fertilizer prices have been falling in recent months. It is true that this reduction did not allow a direct impact on prices”, he underlined.
Nuno Fazenda also indicated that, on March 22nd, a PARCA meeting was held, where the various members were able to present their “perspectives, responses and contributions”, which served as a basis for taking measures, such as the pact for the reduction of prices.
Gonçalo Rodrigues, the Secretary of State for Agriculture, said it was important to reinforce that PARCA exists and does its job, despite noting that, “by chance, it could have met more times”.
The official also noted that in order to reform the “transparency mechanisms and to allow an effective monitoring of prices over time”, the Government signed contracts with Euroteste and Consulai, within the scope of the Price Observatory, to obtain information on the prices for the consumer, as well as the value chain analysis methodology.
PARCA also includes the Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP), the Confederation of Commerce and Services of Portugal (CCP), the Confederation of Business of Portugal (CIP), the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA), the National Confederation of Cooperatives Agrícolas and Crédito Agrícola de Portugal (Confagri), the Portuguese Distribution Association (APED), the Portuguese Association of Branded Products Companies (CENTROMARCA) and the Federation of Portuguese Agro-Food Industries (FIPA), which have already been heard in this committee.
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