Croatia price caps: product list, rules and real prices

In Croatian shops, a litre of sunflower oil may cost at most €1.72, a kilogram of white granulated sugar €1.33 and a 500 g pack of spaghetti €1.09. These limits come from a government decision in force since 1 December 2025. It covers 100 items in total: 29 products and 71 product categories.

The cap is an upper limit, and real prices are often lower. In the chains’ price lists for 26 October 2026, a litre of Milkland UHT milk cost €0.39 in all 116 Lidl shops. Milk from well-known brands cost €1.02 in most chains, one cent below the cap.

This article explains which rules apply to which list, how to spot a capped price in the shop, what the inspectors found and how to report a price above the limit.

Data as of: prices from the retailers’ official price lists for 26 October 2026. Prices change daily, so the examples apply only to that day. Legal information as of 26 October 2026.

What a price cap is#

A price cap is the highest retail price the Croatian government sets for a product. The current rule is the Decision on setting maximum prices for certain products and certain product categories as a measure of direct price control in retail (opens in a new tab) (in Croatian), published in the official gazette Narodne novine as NN 142/2025. The government adopted it on 20 November 2025. It has applied since 1 December 2025 and is open-ended. In its package of measures of 10 September 2026, the government confirmed (opens in a new tab) (in Croatian) that the price caps on 100 products continue.

The decision has two lists with different rules:

If the item a retailer has chosen for a category goes out of stock, the retailer picks another item from the same category (section VI).

Three more rules apply:

• Regular price. Under section V, the cap applies to the regular price, outside promotions and other special forms of sale.
• Every retailer in Croatia. The decision covers everyone registered for retail trade in Croatia (section VI), from hypermarkets to small corner shops.
• Margin on milk. For UHT milk with 2.8% fat, the retailer’s margin may be at most 10% (section IV).

The government has capped the prices of selected foods since September 2022 (opens in a new tab) (in Croatian). The list has changed several times since then: from 7 February 2025 it covered 30 products and 40 categories (NN 17/2025, explained by the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, in Croatian (opens in a new tab)), and since 1 December 2025 it covers 29 products and 71 categories.

The list: 29 products with a maximum price#

For these products, every item on the shelf must cost the set price or less. The names follow the text of the decision; the Croatian word in brackets is what you will usually see on the label. The official list in Croatian is on our Price caps page.

The list of 71 categories with their maximum prices, from bread and rolls to coffee, detergent and toilet paper, is on the Price caps page. A few examples: unpackaged wheat bread €1.50 per kg, 250 g of butter €2.99, 400 g to 500 g of ground coffee €6.79, 900 g of honey €5.70 and three-ply toilet paper in packs of 10 to 16 rolls €2.99.

What these products cost in the price lists#

For six products from the list and two categories, we compared the regular prices in the price lists of ten chains for 26 October 2026: Konzum, Lidl, Kaufland, Spar, Plodine, Tommy, Studenac, Eurospin, KTC and NTL. We sorted the items by their names in the price lists.

The table shows three things:

• Well-known brands sit at the cap. Dukat, Vindija and Z bregov milk (€1.02), Zvijezda oil (€1.69), Barilla spaghetti (€1.09) and the cheapest eggs in five chains (€2.45) cost exactly the cap or a cent or three below it. Here the cap really holds prices down.
• Cheaper brands are often far below. Milkland milk was 62% below the cap, Viro sugar 44%, Kones Bi eggs 41% and K-Classic spaghetti 40%. If you choose a cheaper brand, you pay much less than the maximum.
• For flour and oil the gap is small. The cheapest kilogram of flour was 6 cents below the cap and the cheapest litre of oil 23 cents. Sugar is the opposite case: even its most common price, €0.99, was a quarter below the cap.

Eggs: the cap applies to size M eggs from cage farming. Barn eggs, free-range eggs and omega-3 eggs count as different products and cost €2.99 to €4.59 for ten in the price lists.

Categories: for 250 g of butter (cap €2.99) and 400 g to 500 g of ground coffee (cap €6.79), each of the ten chains had at least one item in its price list at the capped price or cheaper. Pricier brands in the same category may cost more.

For UHT milk and spaghetti, we also found a few items from better-known brands whose regular price in the price list was above the cap. The price lists leave open what the shelf tag says and whether the list itself contains an error. If such an item costs more than the cap on the shelf, that is a reason to report it to the inspectorate.

How to spot a capped price in the shop#

The decision sets out how retailers must inform customers about capped prices (section VII):

• Label next to the price. Every item with a capped price carries a special label next to its price, as set out in Annex I of the decision.
• Poster. A poster with that label and a list of the items and their prices hangs at the entrance or another visible spot in the shop. Retailers with a website publish the poster there too.
• Separate section of the shop. Shops larger than 400 m² have separate sections for the category items and for at least one item of each of the 29 products.

On shelves with many brands, the label helps you find the item the retailer has chosen for a category. For the 29 products in section II, the cap applies to every item, so every one of them carries the label.

What the inspectors found#

From 7 February 2025 to 21 August 2026, the market inspectors of the State Inspectorate (Državni inspektorat) carried out 5,312 inspections of price control measures in total, including anchor prices and price lists (State Inspectorate, 25 August 2026, in Croatian (opens in a new tab)). Of these, 5,021 inspections concerned the price cap decision, and they found violations in 1,327 of them, or 26.43%. One inspection can find several violations, so the table counts individual items, categories and shops:

The Act on Exceptional Price Control Measures (Zakon o iznimnim mjerama kontrole cijena) sets fines for violations (NN 40/2025 (opens in a new tab), in Croatian, Article 20): €3,000 to €30,000 for a retailer that is a legal entity, €1,000 to €4,000 for the responsible person in a legal entity, €1,000 to €20,000 for a sole trader and €1,000 to €6,000 for a retailer who is a natural person. Any financial gain from the violation is confiscated.

How to report a price above the cap#

If you see a product from the list of 29 priced above the cap, a category without an item at the capped price, or an item without the label:

1. Take a photo of the shelf and the price tag and keep your receipt if you bought the product. Note the date and the shop’s address.
2. Ask in the shop. The tag may be swapped or outdated.
3. File a report with the State Inspectorate. Price caps are supervised by the market inspectors (Article 18 of the Act on Exceptional Price Control Measures). You report through the form on the inspectorate’s website (opens in a new tab) (in Croatian): you enter your name, email address, address, regional office, the retailer’s name and address and a description of the case, and you can attach up to five photos or documents. You can also report through the e-Građani system.

Frequently asked questions#

Does the price cap apply to every brand?#

For the 29 products in section II, yes: according to the inspectorate (opens in a new tab) (in Croatian), the retailer must price every item on sale at or below the maximum. For the 71 categories, one item at the capped price is enough, and the others may cost more.

Why does butter in the shop cost more than €2.99?#

Butter is on the list of categories. The retailer must offer at least one 250 g butter for €2.99 or less and may sell other brands at a higher price. You can spot that item by the label next to its price.

Do price caps apply on the islands and in tourist resorts too?#

Yes. The decision applies to all retailers in the Republic of Croatia, in every town and in every season.

Does every shop have to stock all capped products?#

Shops larger than 400 m² must have a separate section with at least one item of each of the 29 products. For smaller shops, the decision only sets the price: every item of the 29 products they sell may cost at most the cap. For the categories: when a retailer sells items in a category, at least one of them must have the capped price.

How long do the price caps apply?#

Decision NN 142/2025 is open-ended and applies until the government amends or repeals it. On 10 September 2026, the government announced that the measure continues.

Check before you buy#

• The Price caps page has the full list of 29 products and 71 categories with their maximum prices.
• Our search shows the price of a product in every chain we cover, from the official price lists, cheapest first.
• The deals page lists current promotions in all chains.
• The Pinezi app for Android and iPhone keeps the list of price caps at hand, in the shop too.

Sources#

• Decision on setting maximum prices for certain products and certain product categories as a measure of direct price control in retail, NN 142/2025 (in Croatian) (opens in a new tab)
• Act on Exceptional Price Control Measures, NN 40/2025 (in Croatian) (opens in a new tab)
• State Inspectorate: inspections of direct price control measures, 25 August 2026 (in Croatian) (opens in a new tab)
• State Inspectorate: filing a report (in Croatian) (opens in a new tab)
• HRT: government presents its 11th package of measures, 10 September 2026 (in Croatian) (opens in a new tab)
• Informator: price caps on nine basic food products, 9 September 2022 (in Croatian) (opens in a new tab)
• Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts: guidance on Decision NN 17/2025 (in Croatian) (opens in a new tab)
• Prices: retailers’ official price lists, collected by Pinezi (data sources)