PM: Russian govt to sign sugar, oil price cut deals on Wednesday

MOSCOW, Dec 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian government plans to sign agreements to reduce sugar and sunflower seed oil prices on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said.

"The agreements to reduce sugar and sunflower seed oil prices between the Agriculture, Industry and Trade ministries and industry associations, as well as several large federal (retail) chains will be signed today," Mishustin said.

He said that the regional retain chains and suppliers will join the agreement later.

On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin criticized the government for sugar, sunflower seed oil, bread and flour price surge saying it was an attempt to set the prices on the Russian market at a global level.

Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev promised that the government’s measures to stabilize food prices will reduce the retail price for sugar to 46 rubles per kilogram and for sunflower oil to 110 rubles per kilogram. The prices for food-grade wheat should be reduced to 14,000 per tonne in 2020 and to 13,000 rubles per tonne until the end of February 2021, he said.

Mishustin emphasized that the price control measures are temporary.

"I want to stress that all these measures to curb the prices are surely short-term. Do not be carried away and getting into a regulatory frenzy to avoid lower production or long-term investment because of the administrative regulations," the prime minister said.

He added that the measures must be proportionate to the problem.

(73.4453 rubles – U.S. $1)

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