Vladimir Putin called on the government to quickly respond to rising food prices

Patrushev explained that in August there was a slight decrease in production volumes, although in the period from January to August production volumes increased. “ In principle, there are no particular economic prerequisites for increasing prices , and after talking with poultry farmers, we came to the conclusion that they, feeling their social responsibility, have already begun to lower the price of chicken. I hope that we will see this soon,” the minister said.

“The government must turn on known mechanisms in a timely manner, including purchasing imports from our closest neighbors: from Belarus, from Kazakhstan,” Putin emphasized, adding that if this was done in a timely manner, there would not be such a rise in prices. “The corresponding decisions have been made. We receive poultry MEAT from Belarus and Kazakhstan in order to slightly balance our market,” Patrushev reported.

Last week  , the Ministry of Agriculture  reported that the department had reached an agreement with large poultry producers to increase production and stabilize prices on the domestic market. Thanks to state support, the economics of poultry meat and egg production makes it possible to provide more acceptable prices for the population, Patrushev noted, also reminding market participants of possible measures of state regulation of prices if the situation does not change.

On October 20,  ROSSELKHOZNADZOR  announced the resumption of supplies of poultry products to RUSSIA from three Belarusian and one enterprise from Kazakhstan. “The decision was made based on the results of an analysis of materials sent by the authorities in Belarus and Kazakhstan authorized in the field of veterinary medicine, information on the work carried out to eliminate the inconsistencies that caused the restrictions, as well as the adoption of preventive measures to prevent repeated detections,” the department’s website says. Products will be imported into Russia under enhanced laboratory control.

Meanwhile, as the Ministry of Economic Development reported, in the week from October 17 to October 23, consumer price growth accelerated to 0.24% from 0.15% the week before. Year-on-year inflation was 6.59% after 6.38% last week. In the food products segment, prices increased by 0.39%: the rise in prices for fruits and vegetables affected them by 1.15% (0.35% a week earlier), since the decline in prices for “borscht set” vegetables did not compensate for the accelerated increase in prices for cucumbers and tomatoes. For other food products, the rate of price growth decreased from 0.36% to 0.33%. Including prices for chicken meat in 67 regions over the week increased by 0.1-3.6%, in five they did not change, in 13 they decreased by 0.1-1.6%, according to Rosstat data. The average retail price for chicken increased by 0.74%; compared to the end of September, the increase was 3.22%. Compared to December 2022, chicken has become more expensive by almost 28.5%.