Soya soars, but slice price stable

By Andrew Adamides

IN SPITE of the House of Representatives decision to raise the price of soya cheese substitute, pizzerias yesterday seemed to think there would be no immediate increase in the price of pizzas, if any at all.

A representative of US-based chain Domino’s told The Sunday Mail that he couldn’t really say whether the decision would affect prices, as a lot of things were taken into account in the pricing of pizzas.

Non-chain parlours echoed this, saying prices had to remain competitive.

The House decision was taken after tons of locally-produced Edam cheese piled up when the cheaper Greek-made cheese substitute took its place. As a result of this, local cheese-producers have stopped buying milk, and because of a government arrangement with the milk producers, this has resulted in huge quantities of unsold milk being poured away – and paid for by public money.

The Council of Ministers decided to levy the fake cheese with excise tax last Wednesday. A government source told The Sunday Mail that the levy would “immediately make it impossible for the cheese-substitute to be sold”.

The substitute cheese – made from soya protein, vegetable fat and salt according to its label – is made by Biotros of Salonica. It is also available in local supermarkets.

The Consumers Association is currently investigating whether or not it can take to court pizzerias which use the cheese substitute, as most definitions of pizza describe it as being topped with cheese, not cheese substitute.

While the price of pizzas may not be set to soar, the price of milk will rise by 1 cent a litre on Thursday.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.