Rising food prices in Russia: who is to blame and what to do

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In the past ten days, there has been a war in our country with food prices, which rose sharply in value last November. It was announced personally by President Putin, who, in his own words, was "seriously hurt" by this fact. Despite the fact that our sympathies in this matter are entirely on the side of the head of state, what is happening is more like a heroic war with windmills, in which there can be no victory. What gives reason to believe so?

The saga began on December 9, shortly before the expected traditional press conference. In a meeting with members of the government, the president expressed displeasure with the sharp rise in food prices and drew parallels with the shortage of the Soviet period. True, he himself made an important reservation that under the USSR something might not be enough for everyone, but today people simply do not have the money to buy food at the prices that are on the shelves. Undoubtedly, this is a very important remark, which is worth returning to.



If we consider the problem with prices in figures, then the increase is as follows: sugar - plus 71,5%, bread - 6,3%, flour - 12,9%, sunflower oil rose in price by 23,8%. Indeed, it is a little expensive for those who do not eat in the special canteen in the Parliament, the Government or the presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo. But why did such a significant rise in prices suddenly occur? After all, our country has been setting record after record in grain harvest in recent years?

This situation is due to a number of factors:

At first, domestic agricultural producers have increased costs due to the fall in the ruble against the dollar, which President Putin himself admitted. In practice, this means that it has become more expensive to buy imported machinery and accessories to it, fertilizers, chemical treatment of plants, seeds, etc. All this has long been in need of import substitution, but so far, judging by the result, the authorities have not reached this point.

Secondly, the domestic oligarch Oleg Deripaska spoke very sensibly, who linked the problems with inadequate credit policies Central Bank of the Russian Federation:

Here we need to change our approach: if we provide the agricultural sector with money at least at the same percentage as in Europe or America, there will be no price increase.

According to the logic of the billionaire, then Russia itself will be inundated with agricultural products, and there will be no deficit. If one can agree with the first part of this thesis, then with the second - no longer.

Thirdlyno matter how much grain is produced in our country, it will simply flow to the place where the best price will be given for it. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and crop failure in many Western countries, the demand for food has increased greatly abroad. Is it any wonder that agricultural holdings have turned on the export "grain pipeline" at full capacity? The names of these companies and the names of the owners are well known to President Putin, he said:

This means that flour has grown by almost 13% ... And who is this? What, I don't know what, who is taking out? And you know!

And they are taking them out. Ahead of the press conference, it was announced that serious export quotas would be introduced from February 15 to June 30. As they say, you still have to live until mid-February, but those who need it are in a hurry to get more out of Russia before the restrictive measures come into force. It is reported that now the customs office has stood in the way of grain exporters, which did not give farmers a whole month. (It is not clear only why the government gave it?). In the Black Sea ports, customs officers began to conduct continuous checks, which, within the framework of the current legislation, delay the registration of procedures as much as possible. It may take up to 10 days for the cargo to be outweighed. And these are not at all harmless games. The fact is that the charterer has to pay 15 thousand dollars a day for the forced downtime of a deep-water vessel in the port in excess of the standard time. In 10 days, it turns out already 150 thousand dollars for each ship loaded with grain, which means an additional increase in the financial burden on farmers. Six large Russian agricultural companies have already come under attack and have become "extreme" for all.

So I would like to ask a question, are domestic farmers so bad that they are striving to make money on the current market conditions? Or is the current situation a grimace of the free market, which supposedly should settle everything? Capitalism, happiness, right? And is there some causal relationship between the outright poverty of a significant part of the population of Russia, which can not even afford "macaroshka with a trigger", and the liberal economic reforms? If we are consistent, then we have to play by the liberal rules to the end, otherwise it is necessary to finally introduce state regulation of the economy according to the Soviet type, recognizing that something has gone wrong.
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12 comments
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  1. +4
    19 December 2020 11: 45
    Too many rhetorical questions and, as always, one-sided. There is no analysis, but there is multiple sounding of what happened. Amazing thing: food prices have gone up! The solution is very simple: it is necessary to remove the layers of outbidding between the manufacturer and the store (normal manufacturers have been organizing their networks for a long time). It is necessary for farmers to make zero loans and reduce the price of gas and electricity.
    The funny thing is that it was during the pandemic that the demand for blue-collar jobs rose sharply.
    1. -4
      19 December 2020 13: 09
      Quote: Dmitry S.
      Too many rhetorical questions and, as always, one-sided. There is no analysis, but there is multiple sounding of what happened. Amazing thing: food prices have gone up!

      Mr. Sanin, a complete alignment is given, but you simply cannot understand what has been written. smile
      1. +2
        20 December 2020 08: 17
        Why shouldn't there be a rise in prices if:
        a) 90% of the seed is imported; the situation is no better in livestock and poultry farming.
        b) more than 80% of agricultural machinery is not Russian
        c) the cost of fuel is formed according to an incomprehensible scheme
        d) agricultural universities do not train farmers and livestock specialists, but managers, accountants and lawyers. A meager number of agricultural specialists leads to an increase in the cost of their services: a zootechnician of the highest category receives at least 200 rubles per month, which is also included in the cost of the final product
        e) the cost of using money, provided that the production margin is 20%, turns out to be too high.
        f) fertilizers, for the most part - domestic, and chemicals - imported, because they go in conjunction with seed.
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  2. +2
    19 December 2020 11: 59
    The paradox is that a liberal who has been building this system in Russia for 20 years, himself was outraged by the results of his activities, for a start he would remove from power all this force of anovonaibulinokudrinsky scum, but for him it is like cutting off something from himself
  3. +1
    19 December 2020 12: 00
    We must ban Chernyshevsky! wassat good drinks
  4. -1
    19 December 2020 12: 06
    And how happy they were, even in the summer, with an unprecedented harvest!
    How proud they were, the first place in grain export!
    Clever people reminded that the bread remained, from fodder grain. But who was listening?
    "dizzy with success" (c), yes.
  5. +1
    19 December 2020 15: 45
    Indeed, what about the summer articles about bumper harvests, unprecedented sugar production, pre-imposed quotas, and other changes?

    And GDP expresses concern every year. Often the same phrases.
    1. 0
      20 December 2020 09: 31
      There is a harvest, it is simply exported, where prices are higher. Capitalism
      1. +1
        20 December 2020 10: 07
        This is understandable.
        However, then the blah blah about quotas that was promoted in spring and summer is an empty phrase ...

        However, the struggle between the Kremlin and the GDP for prices began on Tuesday, I have not yet fully appreciated. ))))
        But the juice has already risen in price, I noticed.
      2. 0
        21 December 2020 11: 37
        Strange.
        If grain prices have increased "there", then "here", they have nothing to grow with. Moreover, prices have increased for sugar, which has not risen in price there. How is this interconnected?
  6. +2
    20 December 2020 21: 41
    In the United States, at the legislative level, the mark-up on goods above the permitted level is limited. There is no direct prohibition, but the taxation there is flexible and made in such a way that it is not profitable for hucksters to tear seven skins from a consumer; when they receive super-profits from a margin, they are strangled with taxes. It's time to do the same in Russia. I set a markup of 300%, pay 98% of income tax and see how the crooks who profit from the common people sing. Raising taxes on grabber will discourage them from grabbing beyond measure. In addition, it is time to abolish benefits for pensioners who own locks and expensive cars bought not for living and moving, but for show-off.
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