Rising fuel and energy prices could further shake household budgets in Portugal. Farmers are thinking about impacting on the final price of their products the increase in costs of fertilizers, insecticides or tools.
The vegetables have not risen yet, but the Lourinha cooperative, in the west of the country, is on the lookout.
Raise prices or stop producing
“We are having increases in the general costs of production and we are selling at the same prices or cheaper than before”, comments its general secretary Sérgio Ferreira. “This is going to be impossible and it is not sustainable. We anticipate that at least part of these cost increases we will have to apply to final prices because otherwise we will have to stop.”
Some have already done so. Others, like António Simoes, begin to study new possibilities.
“Seeing how everything is, I do not know if it would not be better to stop while we can. And in a year or so to start again, because we risk spending what we have and what we do not have. For now, if we stop we would still remain financially stable “.
The possibility of everyone falling
At another point in the chain, that of marketing, the director of Simples & Frescas João Pedro Fernandes, proposes to increase prices so that they do not all end up falling.
“If we do not get some profit, if this does not improve, it will catch everyone in the chain. The cooperatives, the suppliers of tools and equipment. All those people will also be affected because the producers will not have money to buy them. This is a domino. “
A domino that threatens families’ access to healthy food in a country where the minimum wage remains below 700 euros. Following the dissolution of parliament, the government can now do little or nothing to try to change the situation.
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