Well wholesale. Brazilian women move regional hens from St. Petersburg

Fontanka was told about the sharp rise in prices for chicken MEAT in several retail chains. “We are recording an increase in purchase prices and a shortage of stock poultry,” the Lenta network reported. The company did not say how much the cost increased, but noted that suppliers and on the stock exchange “have about the same order [of price increase].” “Poultry farms inform and raise prices,” another federal retailer said. Rising prices - in the range from 10 to 20%. The increase in the price of chicken meat by an average of 15% was also reported in one of the fast food chains, a significant part of the assortment of which is occupied by this particular product . “Everyone has this situation,” Fontanka’s interlocutor said.

Fontanka has at its disposal letters of price increases from one of the largest producers in the region, the Severnaya poultry farm. During April, the company announced the indexation five times. The increase affected 14 positions. The price of a broiler chicken carcass increased the most — by 23 rubles. Now, according to a representative of the company working with the manufacturer, the carcass is traded at 155 rubles, which is 17.4% more than a month ago.

Another manufacturer, Cherkizovo, has not yet indexed prices , but its branded products are already more expensive than those of Severnaya, Fontanka's interlocutor adds. Severnaya has been the cheapest in recent months and is slowly raising prices,” he says.

Petersburg is no exception. The agrarii.com portal reports that from April 17 to April 24, the wholesale price of a chicken carcass in RUSSIA jumped by 7.7% to 140.8 rubles per kilogram, but the portal does not name the data source or monthly dynamics. However, other types of chicken meat have risen in price not so significantly.

Market participants give different explanations for this dynamic. So, in Lenta they said that the main supplier of non-branded meat is a poultry farm"Severnaya" faced problems with equipment and loss of livestock. “In Severnaya, they explained that many chickens had died and there was a problem with volume, they also had some problems with setting up equipment,” said Alexander Myshinsky, HEAD of Real. The company notes that the increase in meat prices at this time is seasonal, but compared to the beginning of May last year, the purchase price of chicken meat is now about 10% higher.

“Standard reasons are currency, equipment,” commented on the increase in purchase prices for chicken in another large federal chain. The representative of the fast food chain believes that the price increase is "speculative".

The Severnaya Poultry Farm itself reported that the increase in the price of its products was “due to numerous factors.” “Currently, indeed, there are great difficulties with the maintenance of expensive imported equipment, the supply of spare parts for it, the cost of logistics services, energy carriers, premixes, vaccines, hatching eggs have risen significantly.etc." - noted in the press service. Since there are no analogues in Russia and goods have to be purchased abroad, “the fact of the weakening of the ruble objectively also affects the cost of poultry meat,” Severnaya added. At the same time, the chickens are in good HEALTH and there is no mortality of the bird, the company claims. At the time of publication, Cherkizovo did not respond to Fontanka's request. “Seasonal price adjustment before the May ones, as a rule, happens every year,” says a source at the meat market.

According to Rosstat, the rise in prices in the wholesale sector has not yet reached the shelf. So, on May 2, the cost of a chilled or frozen carcass was 162.9 rubles per kilogram, which is 3% cheaper than at the beginning of April and 11% cheaper than a year earlier. But, compared to May 2020, the carcass price increased by 12%

The cost of chicken legs is still known only for March. Compared to March 2022, the price remained almost unchanged (+0.44%), but increased by 12% compared to the same month in 2021, and by 27% compared to 2020. Thus, despite the pronounced seasonal fluctuations, poultry meat still becomes more expensive over a long distance. There is no visible binding of the retail price to the dynamics of the ruble exchange rate. However, market participants note that the impact is not immediate, and the shelf price adjustment lags behind the rise in price in one or another link of the commodity distribution chain.

As for retail prices, chicken meat can now be found on the shelves of federal chains at a price lower than wholesale. So, in Lenta, a kilogram of a broiler chicken carcass costs 164.99 rubles per kg on the card, in Perekrestok - 149.99 rubles. In the Severnaya online store - 136.7 rubles. But in the regional network of discounters "Semishagoff" - and at all 117.99 rubles.

“We do not broadcast these increases to the buyer and hold back shelf prices,” Lenta commented on the backlog of the shelf price from the purchase price. But, according to another market participant who monitors prices from competitors, until recently, large chains offered products at a price comparable to Semishagoff - about 115 rubles per kilogram. The chicken carcass is a kind of marker product, which is specially kept as low as possible in order to lure buyers, the source notes. At the same time, losses in marginality can be compensated by other positions.

Balances the official retail price and cheaper imported frozen products ( Rosstatcounts both refrigeration and freezing). Here Russia has two main suppliers. With a total annual import volume of 250,000 tons, about 110,000 tons come from Belarus and another 100,000 from Brazil.

The price of Brazilian chicken has decreased by about 20% since April and is now trading at 6.7 thousand reais per kilogram ( 102 rubles at the exchange rate of the Central Bank). That is, it is already one and a half times cheaper than exchange cooled from the Leningrad region. It is curious that the cost of meat from the South American republic, as a rule, changes following the ruble exchange rate.

The sharp fall of the ruble in 2020 and 2022 was accompanied by a cycle of cheaper Brazilian chicken meat. And vice versa, the strengthening of the Russian currency on the chart is superimposed on periods of rising prices for Brazilian legs. The peak of ruble appreciation in June 2022 coincided with one of the highest prices for South American chicken.

However, the networks do not plan to switch to import freezing and transfer buyers to “Bush legs” from friendly Brazil. According to the interlocutors of Fontanka, while the exchange non-branded goods are becoming more expensive, suppliers of branded chicken are offering promotions and discounts to increase sales. The chains themselves will continue to at least partially restrain price growth by competing with each other.