Fiks Fare program on Top Channel made an observation in the villages of Lushnja, to document how much 1 kilogram of wheat is being sold in Albania and discovered that this year the price of wholesale purchase from merchants has been halved.
Last year’s price reached 54 all per 1 kilogram, while this year 1 kilogram of wheat has gone for a maximum of 28 all per kilogram.
Some wholesale firms, which were previously fined by the Competition Authority for acting as a “cartel”, fixing the price of wheat and flour, are collecting wheat at the same price; 28 lek per kilogram!
Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture invited farmers to plant wheat, and the government also granted a subsidy of 30,000 lek per hectare. Farmers listened to the government and planted wheat.
“About 55,000 hectares of wheat have been planted throughout Albania, we have subsidized one part with 30,000 lek, we have also provided oil subsidies,” Irfan Tarelli, Director General of Agricultural Policies and Programs at the Ministry of Agriculture, told Fiks Fare.
But the situation of farmers in Lushnje, Divjakë, etc., areas that are considered as Albania’s granary, is alarming. They have raised the alarm that the price of wheat has dropped significantly and that they are going bankrupt. Fiks Fare reporters went to several villages to see this situation firsthand.
Fiks Fare went to the village of Tërbuf, where the farmers say that with the current selling price, 1 kg at 28 Lek, they make a loss.
It calculates the costs of planting, from plowing, milling, seeds, agricultural imputs, harvesting or spraying and the farmer says that from the calculations he has made, if he takes it to the collection point in Lushnje, he comes out with a loss. “All the effort of the year, of the whole family and we come out with a loss,” says the farmer.
Fiks Fare travels a few kilometers, in the large fields of Tërbufi, and the farmers talk about the same situation of bankruptcy with their cultures.
Although no one knows who sets the price of wheat from trade groups, in 2021 and 2022, the Competition Authority opened an investigation into price fixing by several firms in the wheat import, production and flour trading market.
The authority said at the time that “the Competition Commission closed the in-depth investigations on the wheat import market and flour trading against the companies Agro Blend, Miell Tirana, Bloja, Atlas and Atlas Mills, even though it found concerted behavior between these companies, in the market of wheat import, import, production and marketing of flour.”
In the same decision, it is written quite clearly that “there is an obligation of the companies Agro Blend, Miell Tirana, Bloja, Atlas and Atlas Mills not to set, directly or indirectly, the purchase or sale prices, or any other trading conditions. Not to limit or control production, markets, technical development or investment. Not to share markets or sources of supply”.
At that time, this authority only decided to keep it under surveillance. Meanwhile, the monitoring showed that these firms violated the competition again.
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