Nowadays, as public procurers on the contracting side, we experience more and more often that public procurement procedures for the procurement of food are concluded without results because the tenders are not technically able to keep up with the price increase. We all know what is behind this situation, but it is interesting to note here the research by Elements on how energy prices have affected food prices in the past decades.
Since Russia intervened in Ukraine, disturbances in the energy supply have affected food prices and consumer sentiment. Based on data from the World Bank, the above infographic presents the energy crises of the past half century and what this means for the world economy in the future.
The research highlights three main effects:
- rising global inflation,
- slower global economic growth,
- increasing food shortages and growing risk of civil disorder.
“While the situation in developing countries is getting more and more critical, Europe is also facing difficulties, and Hungary is not an exception.”
What does this mean from the customer’s side? Food purchases require more and more serious consideration in terms of pricing techniques, and the importance of preliminary market consultation is increasing (EPK). Even though it is quite difficult to address the market, many EPKs are concluded unsuccessfully due to lack of interest, because the economic actors assume inflexible pricing, so they try to contract in the private sector.
“This does not have to be the case! Based on a predetermined methodology, by incorporating sufficiently flexible calculation mechanisms, even monthly pricing can be solved in a public procurement procedure.”
It is also important to raise awareness among actors in the food sector, because they often stay away from public procurement procedures due to unfounded fears. EPK is still one of the best tools for involving economic actors, despite the above. Let’s strive for a real consultation, even to learn about and implement pricing techniques proven in the private sector if the law allows for it!
