Posted on 05/21/2015 6:46:16 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Vegetable farmers in Brandenburg are worried about the future of the famous Spreewald gherkins, as the new national minimum wage has driven prices up.
Spreewald gherkins aren’t just any old gherkins. They hold a certain status in Germany, to the extent that they are designated by the EU as a Protected Geographical Indication, designed to protect local specialties. And yet the greatest threat to their survival isn’t coming from international competitors, but from German politicians.
Producers say that the national minimum wage introduced by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as part of the coalition agreement is forcing prices up.
“More than 200 years of tradition will come to an end if consumers don’t carry on buying our gherkins,” conserve producer Konrad Linkenhell told the Berliner Morgenpost. “Because of higher wages, the raw ingredients have become massively more expensive—by more than a half. It’s a disaster,” he said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.de ...
It's called the market.
I don’t think the gherkins were subsidized, but I could be wrong. The minimum wage is anti-market after all.
Fortunately, Soylent Green is still cheap to manufacture because the factories are fully automated and the raw materials are extremely cheap. Soylent Green prices should therefore remain stable in the face of even the most excessive minimum wage laws.
It can make other things, like pickles, more expensive too??
Is this new? Why hasn't anyone ever realized this before?
A government-imposed minimum wage increase is not “the market”.
Consumer demand cannot be ignored. If consumers don't want to buy at the price the producer wants to charge, the producer can either lower its price, make something else instead, or throw in the towel. But the market speaks volumes.
No it is not the market when the Govt decides what are the wages.
I was speaking to the producer’s response to the government mandate. All risk is priced.
There’s nothing market driven about this at all.
L
I agree. All risk is priced. The producer has no choice about the government mandate. What it can do is set the price or enter a new market, or quit.
I disagree. The firm wants to sell to households. The government imposes higher costs on the firm. The firm must decide whether to raise prices, produce a different product, or quit.
A current 5€ an hour minimum wage? That’s a surprise, I would have guessed that their MW was already higher than ours.
The farmers should just stop producing for one year, grow alternative crops and tell the socialists to stick it when the shortage hits them. FU socialists.
It’s all about the pressure. Take a spoon and gently pry under the lid until you hear a pop. That is the air rushing in and equalizing the pressure. Then the lid will easily turn.
Imagine the price of Cornishons!!!
Gee this is a dilly of a pickle of a problem.
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