President says country needs strong national supermarket chain

President Miloš Zeman has come out in support of a strong national supermarket chain which would favour Czech-made products and help local producers. Speaking at the opening of the annual agricultural food fair Země Živitelka on Thursday, criticized to sales policy of supra-national chains and their growing profit margins. He noted that while 15 years ago the profit margin on a bread roll was around 15 percent, now it is 63 percent and pretty much the same goes for other commodities. At present the only national chain is Coop which is too small to stand up to the supranational giants on the market.