Current price hikes should calm down by the end of the year and they are primarily due to higher prices of fuel, Agriculture Minister Marija Vuckovic said on Wednesday.

With regard to an announced increase in food prices in autumn, Vuckovic said that price hikes in the EU and the rest of the world were primarily triggered by an increase in gas and fuel prices, which has also occurred in Croatia.

Speaking to reporters ahead of an inner cabinet meeting, Vuckovic said that the annual inflation rate in Croatia was still not concerning, given that the price rise was mostly due to external factors. Price hikes are also due to stronger demand due to increased personal consumption, as evidenced by data on fiscalised receipts, according to which consumption in the first seven months of this year was around 27 percent higher than in the same period last year.

Vuckovic said that the prices of some food items were growing rapidly and significantly, but that the overall increase in food prices from January to July 2021 was 2 percent.

Given that food accounts for an above-average share of the monthly shopping basket, any disruption needs to be taken care of and responded to, she said, noting that analysts had said that prices should settle by the end of the year.

The minister pointed to an increase in prices of fodder which negatively impacts the animal husbandry sector, recalling measures taken to help the sector and the government’s plan to further assist it.

The thing that would help the sector structurally and in the long run are amendments to the Law on Farmland, said Vuckovic.

She said that strategic steps were being taken to improve Croatia’s self-sufficiency in agricultural production. As an example, she cited a call for applications for the financing of animal reproduction centres, with an allocation of HRK 250 million, as well as a call for applications for the robotisation of small dairy companies.