The campaign was first launched in Croatia last Friday, but has now been taken up in other Balkan nations after gaining traction on social media.
Shoppers across the Balkans boycotted supermarkets on Friday as part of a movement protesting rising grocery prices and a worsening cost of living crisis.
The boycott comes a week after consumers in Croatia last week stayed away from shops as part of an initiative launched by Croatian consumer rights group “Halo, inspektore” (“Hello, Inspector”).
Its Facebook page posted several photographs of empty supermarkets in the country.
On Thursday, the group ramped up its campaign by announcing a week-long boycott of supermarket chains Eurospin, Lidl and DM, while also calling on Croatians to avoid all other forms of spending on Friday.
The protest movement has also extended to other countries in the Western Balkans — such as Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia.
Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milojko Spajić has even joined in, stating that “as a citizen I support such action” in a TV interview with the country’s public broadcaster this week.
In Croatia, ahead of the boycott on Friday, the government added a further 40 items to its existing list of 30 basic products with capped prices, local media reported. These products include certain types of cheeses, coffee, and household essentials like soap.
“The main aim is to protect the most vulnerable groups of citizens,” said Croatia’s Economy Minister Ante Susnjar, in a statement shared by TV broadcaster HRT.
In Croatia, transactions in supermarket chains dropped by 44% last Friday, with total sales plummeting by 53%, according to a statement by Croatia’s tax authorities.
Croatia has been squeezed by inflation, reaching an annual rate of 4.5% in December — the highest in the eurozone, where the average is 2.4%
The country first introduced price-caps in 2022, as a way of combatting the price hikes triggered by the Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Croatian supermarket chains have also responded to the protest movement, with Kaufland Croatia announcing a price cut on over 1,000 products from 5 February.
Another supermarket chain, Konzum, said it planned to inject €1 million into reducing and freezing prices on 250 domestic products which aren’t price capped by the government.
