Lawmakers from the Communist Party submitted to the State Duma a draft law on the introduction of state regulation of food prices. According to communists, the lack of state regulation of prices for staple foods - bread, milk, dairy products and baby foods - leads to collusion of retailers and spontaneous rises in prices. Such a measure is also supported by the Minister of Agriculture, Nikolai Fedorov, who believes that regional authorities should sign special agreements with manufacturers and retail chains, saying that the prices for some products will remain at a certain level. Meanwhile, the Federal Anti-monopoly Service has opened a hotline for citizens' complaints about rising prices. Despite the government's promise that the products will not rise in price, in many regions it happens anyway.
President of the Russian Grain Union Arkady Zlochevskiy explains that the price formation is influenced by a number of different factors, but it has nothing to do with the price charged by farmers. "Sanctions had no influence on the total gross harvest, but the restrictions imposed by Rosselkhozbank, for instance, for financial institutions, has not led, but could theoretically lead to a rise in the cost of access to funds for peasants. This, of course, is reflected in the cost of production and leads to an increase in the cost. It is unlikely to rise much due to the sanctions, but some increase can in fact be expected," Zlochevskiy said.
At the same time, he stressed that, despite the increase in the cost of production, it is offset by the overall gross collection: "The quantity of products withdrawn from each hectare results in a decrease in cost. This year the weather is favourable, so it compensates this rise in the cost by a decrease in it. Even if the cost of production slightly increases, it will have no impact on the pockets of consumers, as sales prices charged by farmers and selling prices on the counter do not depend on each other directly."
"Grain prices are not related to the price of bread, not related to the prices of livestock products. There is a whole range of factors, which have a much more significant influence on the final cost of the products on the counter. That is why one should not expect some impact of the sanctions," says the president of the Russian Grain Union.
With regard to the factors that really affect prices, Zlochevky said: "The prices for products largely depend on the prices for imports. Food imports depend on the exchange rate policy, that is, the ratio of exchange rates and the sanctions too. As sanctions restrict the supply of some products, they reduce the supply on the market and affect the pricing of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the risk of a rise in prices for the final product is connected to the sanctions, but has nothing to do with the cost of agricultural products produced on the territory of Russia."
