18 out of the 23 processors, or 78%, are participating in the temporary voluntary agreement to reduce the price of milk, with them already initiating contract renegotiations with retailers, according to data analyzed by the Competition Council.

"It is an important step that, from the first day, 78% of processors have confirmed their participation in the agreement, alongside all the retail chains, and I am convinced that their number will increase in the coming days," said Bogdan Chirițoiu, the President of the Competition Council.

Thus, based on the information collected by the Competition Council from the Price Monitor platform, it is evident that in the first two days since the agreement came into effect, there are already price reductions for Romanian milk on the store shelves, both for 1.5% fat content and 3.5% fat content milk.

There are cases where the reductions are smaller because contract renegotiations between retailers and processors have not been concluded.

"The fact that it is a voluntary agreement provides more flexibility to take into account the specific situation of each company, so that retailers and processors can apply reductions greater than 20%, as we have seen in some networks for certain milk brands."

"I believe that in the following days, we will see a repositioning of prices as contract renegotiations are finalized and existing stocks are depleted. It is also important to consider that if a particular type of milk was already on promotion and had a reduced price, no additional reduction will be applied," added the President of the Competition Council.

It should be recalled that the voluntary agreement between retailers and processors to reduce the price of fresh drinking milk was reached at a meeting with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, representatives of farmers, processors in the food industry, the Association of Large Retail Chains in Romania, and the Association of Goods Distribution Companies in Romania, for a period of six months starting from May 1.

Thus, a minimum 20% price reduction on the shelf will be applied to Romanian-origin milk priced above 7 lei per liter, without being included in any promotion, and will be shared between retailers (minimum 10%) and processors (minimum 10%).

The Competition Council has been involved in the implementation of this agreement to guide interested companies in order to avoid the risk of violating competition rules.

Therefore, the agreement must be conducted according to the established parameters: negotiations should be bilateral between each supplier and each retailer, with the possibility for them to apply discounts of at least 10%.