RETAILERS are not solely to blame for the lack of Slovak products on the shelves of Slovak stores. President of the Trade and Tourism Association (ZOCR) Pavol Konštiak said this on October 26 in response to a statement by the Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPPK) indicating that there is a shortage of Slovak food products in stores.
Konštiak believes that there are several reasons for this, such as the fact that Slovakia has not negotiated the kind of concessions from the EU for its farmers as has Poland, for example. Also, the VAT on food is higher in Slovakia than in neighbouring countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland, the TASR newswire wrote.
In addition, there is no definition of a ‘Slovak product’ in Slovak law, noted Konštiak, essentially posing the question whether a product made by a foreign-owned company in Slovakia may be labelled as a Slovak product.
