It started innocently enough. A woman in the Lithuanian town of Vilkaviškis bought a cauliflower for €3.49 (£2.6o) and, outraged, shared a copy of her receipt on Facebook. Tens of thousands of Lithuanians responded to the post, local media reported, “exploding with anger” over skyrocketing food prices.

A Facebook group was set up, resulting in a three-day boycott of supermarkets last week. Milk farmers joined in, handing out free dairy products in the capital Vilnius to highlight the way supermarkets inflate producers’ prices.



Lithuanian food prices have increased significantly since the country adopted the euro in January 2015, with the cost of some items tripling, analysts say.

“The difference [in food prices here and abroad] may not be that significant, but the [salaries] in Lithuania are way lower than in Germany or Ireland,” Romualda Poseveckaja, a Vilnius city hall official, told Lenta.ru.

In neighbouring Poland food prices are considerably lower, mainly because of sharp difference in value-added tax. Lithuania imposes a 21% VAT on all produce, compared with 3-5% in Poland.

Lithuanian farmers give away milk during a protest over the fixed prices that producers receive. Photograph: Petras Malukas/AFP

The Lithuanian government has struggled to explain the recent price increases. Algirdas Butkevicius, Lithuania’s prime minister, told APD News that the euro was not to blame. “Most of the goods are being imported from the euro zone countries, therefore, prices changes are due to other reasons than euro, such as market challenges, bad harvest and others,” he was quoted as saying.

His comments were echoed by Nerijus Maciulis, the chief economist at Swedbank, who said the escalation in cauliflower prices was caused by a seasonal hike in global demand. “I know that there is a temptation to accuse somebody, but the price of cauliflower grew not due to the euro introduction and the greed of farmers or retailers,” he wrote on Facebook. The prices of cauliflower in supermarkets in the US, Canada, and New Zealand are even higher than in Lithuania, he added.

While the protests may not yet amount to a cauliflower revolution, it seems they are having an impact. The leading supermarket chain Maxima has since introduced 20-40% discounts of some items, although managers denied that this was linked to the boycott. “This is a regular offer ... it’s just coincidence that it’s being offered during the boycott,” a spokeswoman told Lenta.ru.

The chain’s PR department even suggested that Moscow might have instigated the protests, adding that organisers had been listed by Lithuanian security service as posing a threat to the country. The company’s management, however, quickly backtracked on the claims.

A version of this article first appeared on Transitions Online





