Food prices in Poland unlikely to fall next year: Minister

Warsaw, Dec 17

Food prices in Poland will not fall next year; the goal of the government is not to let them increase too quickly, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Henryk Kowalczyk said here.

"Unfortunately, food prices do not depend only on farmers as it is the cost of energy that has the main impact on them," Xinhua news agency quoted Kowalczyk as saying to the local media on Friday.

He added that Poles did not have to worry about the country's food security as Poland was a huge food producer and exporter.

"Last year's food exports totalled nearly 40 billion euros ($42 billion); this year's were even larger, which means we have reserves," the Minister said.

Referring to doubts voiced by Polish farmers about Ukrainian grain arriving in Poland and its possible impact on grain prices in the country, Kowalczyk said that such a problem did not exist.

"Over two million tonnes of Ukrainian grain had entered Poland by the end of September, while Poland's grain exports exceeded six million tonnes in the same period," Kowalczyk said.

Poland's inflation rate is among the highest in the European Union.

According to Statistics Poland, the prices of consumer goods and services increased by 17.5 per cent year-on-year in November.

--IANS