“It is necessary to tell the truth to the Portuguese.” It is on this issue that the Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies (APED) declared “war” on the government and ASAE in a statement. According to APED, “As early as 2023, Distribution is buying more and more expensive products from suppliers (industry and manufacturing). These upstream increases reflect rising input costs as a result of higher prices for fertilizer, feed and other related costs,” and even cite the example of milk: “Milk is 75% more expensive in stores. , exactly the increase that the suppliers transferred to distribution. FENALAC mentioned this 3 days ago.” Before the APED announcement, the economy minister toughened his speech, saying that “we are considering all options, including the most powerful ones, but we want to take these measures with all the information received,” António Costa Silva assured. . The official stressed that he is “not very supportive” of setting prices in the markets, noting that in many cases the effect is not the desired one. In this sense, he defended that the ideal would be to reach a stage where the system and the operators themselves respond and take “social responsibility for lower baskets of products”. […] and advertise core products that sell more in line with consumer expectations.”