The Memorandum on Reducing Food Prices Is Not Working Properly - Minister 0 9

When asked whether the signed memorandum is effective, the minister replied: "Probably not."

At the same time, Asheradens added that the rise in food prices is a problem not only for Latvia but for the entire European Economic Area (EEA).

"Food inflation is a very, very unpleasant problem," said the Minister of Finance, noting that all residents feel the rise in prices, but it affects low-income people the most.

As previously reported by LETA, on May 27, 2025, Minister of Economics Viktor Valainis (SCP), Executive Director of the Latvian Association of Food Traders Noris Krūzītis, Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Jānis Endziņš, and Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Central Union of Dairy Farmers Jānis Šolks signed a memorandum on reducing food prices.

The memorandum provides for the introduction of a low-price food basket, the creation of a price comparison tool, and an increase in the share of local products in stores.

In particular, the low-price basket stipulates that there must be at least one item with the lowest price in ten product categories, and such products must be regularly replaced with others from the same category. The largest retailers introduced such baskets in June of this year.

Additionally, on August 12 of this year, the government decided that individual retailers would have to provide the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) with information for comparing consumer prices and monitoring food prices.

The regulation stipulates the obligation to provide relevant data at the request of the CSB in the manner established by the Cabinet of Ministers. This obligation applies to those food retailers whose net turnover in the last financial year exceeded 400 million euros. Other retailers may provide data to the CSB, but it is not mandatory for them.

The largest retailers will have to provide the CSB with data on products included in the list of essential goods approved by the Cabinet of Ministers starting from December 1 of this year.

According to Firmas.lv data, in the last financial year, the net turnover above 400 million euros was recorded by SIA "Rimi Latvia" - 1.126 billion euros, SIA "Maxima Latvija" - 1.102 billion euros, and SIA "Lidl Latvija" - 460.87 million euros.

It was also reported that in Latvia, consumer prices in October of this year increased by 0.4% compared to September, and year-on-year compared to October 2024, by 4.3%.

At the same time, prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 0.5% over the month and by 5.6% over the year.