Macedonian vegetable production will suffer financial loss of around EUR 5 to 10 million due to Escherichia coli outbreak. This will be additional stroke after enormous rise in crude oil price.

As it was said at today’s press conference in the Economic Chamber besides demand and distribution of vegetable, the prices also fall drastically.

- The average price of tomato is Denar 34 to 42 per kilo and now it is Denar 18, while cucumbers are sold by Denar 30 to 42 and now they are not even sold by Denar 10, Todor Cerepnalkovski, Chairman of Vegetable Production Group within Economic Chamber said. He also mentioned that the situation is very alarming due to the fact that 80% of vegetable production consists of tomatoes and cucumbers.

The producers last week met with Agriculture Minister Ljupco Dimovski discussing the current problems.

The government showed understanding for reprogramming the subsidies for vegetable production, Cerepnalkovski said.

- In order to overcome the problems, we request compensation for enormously high crude oil price and enabling use of favourable five-year credits for payment of bank loans of farmers that have high interest rates, Cerepnalkovski said.

Two-days ago Minister Dimovski and Director of Food and Veterinary Agency Dejan Runtevski stressed that the dangerous strain of E. coli hasn't been found in vegetables grown in Macedonia. They are safe for consumption.