The Ffp2 masks will cost 75 cents: the price imposed by the agreement between the pharmacies and Commissioner Figliuolo
About ten days of price increases, even up to 400%, and reduced stocks. For a demand for Ffp2 masks exploded from December 25, the day the government indicated them as the only ones to be used on public transport, museums, cinemas, theaters, stadiums and concert halls. Yesterday after days of negotiations, surveys on price trends, parliamentary questions, presented by consumer associations for the additional outlay imposed on families, the agreement between the pharmacies and the commissioner structure led by Francesco Figliuolo. They will cost – for the participating points of sale belonging to Federfarma, Assofarm and FarmacieUnite – 75 cents each. A controlled price “that grants very small margins to the owners of pharmacies but that’s not what counts at the moment”, he explains Venanzio Gizzi, president of Assofarm. It is a point of decline agreed with the commissioner and with the regions that takes place “without burdens for public finance”, as indicated in the latest Covid decree. It arrived after some surveys prior to 25 December which indicated an average price of around 80 cents each, therefore considered a possible goal. The complexity of the operation was all in the remuneration of the supply chain: the companies, including Italian companies, which have reconverted the machinery to produce them in the wake of the pandemic, the intermediaries who buy them wholesale and the distribution network of supermarkets, newsstands, shops, pharmacies that sell them to customers.
Everyone will make their effort, at least until March 31, the deadline for the health emergency. For large retailers the weight is less. They buy it in huge quantities and therefore manage to knock down the prices, as Coop che is doing offers them to the end customer at 50 cents each. In pharmacies, the price has never yet fallen below one euro due to the smaller economies of scale in supplies. On the contrary it ranged from 1.5 euros to peaks of 3-4 euros one according to the municipality or region, with an extremely wide variability which therefore suggested a statist measure on which the market can align itself. He says Marco Cossolo, president of Federfarma, that “the greatest burden is for pharmacies in small municipalities where the cost of logistics is higher”. Yet he says he is convinced that there will be a large number of exhibitors, both private and municipal pharmacies, to adhere to the protocol. Otherwise the risk is a patchy situation that would end up penalizing those who live in less connected or more disadvantaged areas.
Certain the bill for families, while small, will not be irrelevant. It is calculated that for a nucleus of four people it can exceed 100 euros per month they also include the cost of surgery which, even if confined to bars and restaurants or in the open air, can be used. The cost of tampons and the workload on health personnel (and therefore also of pharmacies) does the rest: “We are supporting a pressure never seen before with impossible shifts,” says Gizzi.
January 3, 2022 (change January 3, 2022 | 11:30 pm)
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