Cabinet To Introduce Restrictions On Markups On ‘Social’ Food Products And ‘Social’ Bread, And Subsidies To Their Producers Due To High Natural Gas Prices

The Cabinet of Ministers plans to introduce restrictions on the markups on subsidized food products and subsidized bread, as well as subsidies to their producers, due to high natural gas prices.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced this at a news briefing on Friday, the Ukrainian News Agency reports.

According to him, the government is developing mechanisms for supporting Ukrainian bakers and Ukrainian producers of subsidized products due to the abnormal rise in natural gas prices.

Also, according to him, the government plans to introduce restrictions on the markups on a number of subsidized food products, which will help contain the growth of their prices.

He added that in addition, the Cabinet plans to consider the possibility of direct subsidies or special prices for producers of social products and social bread.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Ukrkondprom association of confectionery enterprises is predicting that several confectionery enterprises will shut down due to the rise in natural gas prices since January.

The All-Ukrainian Association of Bakers is predicting interruptions in bread production due to rising natural gas prices.

Ukrkondprom predicted in September that prices of confectionery products would rise by a further 5-7%, following the 25-30% increase in the prices of confectionery products since the beginning of this year.

Economy Minister Oleksii Liubchenko has said that the chemical, processing, and sugar industries need predictable natural gas prices.