Price of coffee set to fall, while milk could rise

WHETHER coffee will soon cost less and milk cost more is to be decided next week by the Advisory Price Commission, its director, George Mitides said yesterday.

Even then, the final word rests with Nicos Rolandis, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, he said.

At present, the dairies want a price rise of two cents per litre of pasteurised milk, while the Commission wants to lower the price of coffee roasted and ground on the island by 50 cents per kilogram, Mitides said.

While many on the Commission appear willing to allow both, Mitides told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that “liberalisation of prices is, in my opinion, the best solution,” especially in light of the day-to-day fluctuations in world coffee prices.

Mitides said he opposed price fixing, despite the fact that his Commission still fixes the prices of at least half a dozen items. These include cement, petroleum products, wood produced by the Cyprus forest industries, pasteurised milk, locally processed coffee, and ‘common bread’, Mitides said.

Mitides said he believed market forces ought to govern price levels. He said this was more in the interest of competition and the consumer.

He added that he believed price fixing violated the Treaty of Rome, the foundation of the European Union, which prohibits anything that interferes with the free flow of money, goods and labour across EU member country borders.

While Cyprus is only in the EU accession stages, it is nonetheless being held to account for the harmonisation of its laws with those of the European Union as if it were a full-fledged member. Price fixing violates both the spirit and letter of the Treaty of Rome, Mitides said.