Authorities do not fear empty shelves, Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis said on Thursday, as he acknowledged there was a worldwide problem with rising prices.

Responding to questions on the sidelines of an event on halloumi in Larnaca, the minister assured that there was no issue of food stocks running out in the near future. And he said that Cyprus was receiving shipments of grain. There are currently stocks of grains for human consumption for about three months.

What the government is looking at is ways of cooperating with grain importers so as to help them maintain bigger stocks.

“So, it does not appear something concerning. What is concerning is the cost, the rise in prices. This is worldwide phenomenon, not only in Cyprus, and we must deal with it with wider measures which the finance ministry is discussing and handling responsibly,” he said.