Life has become more expensive, and this is also clearly noticeable when it comes to food: At a press conference today, Wednesday, Minister of Agriculture Michaela Langer-Weninger denied the accusation that agriculture is a price driver. Long production cycles and the seasonal nature of the products are the reason why farmers cannot react immediately to short-term market fluctuations. “The sales prices achieved and thus the farmer’s income only catch up very late.” Agriculture is not a price driver, but a stability factor that guarantees the supply of local food.
Langer-Weninger therefore called for a legal basis for price transparency: “Let’s put the prices on the table. Consumers should be able to get an idea of who earns how much from their grocery shopping.”
Prices will not go down
“The value chain of agricultural goods and food is a core element of the economy and contributes to prosperity and employment,” said Franz Sinabell, agricultural economist at the Wifo economic research institute. 80,000 people are employed in Upper Austria in this area. The share of the value chain in the overall economy is around 7.5 percent in Upper Austria, higher than the Austrian average (5.5 percent). However, the share of agriculture in value added would stagnate over the years. There is growth in trade and production, for example.
The prices of agricultural goods and energy would fall, for the next few weeks Sinabell expects inflation to continue to weaken, but not with cheaper food “because wages have risen significantly”.
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