PRESS: Prices of dairy products in Russia may grow 10% in Nov

MOSCOW, Sep 30 (PRIME) -- Prices for dairy products in Russia may grow by 10% already in November due to the launch of two new control systems, Izvestia daily reported Monday citing the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s committee for the agricultural complex development.

Russia plans to launch electronic veterinary certification for finished dairy products at the end of autumn, while an experiment on their labeling in production and in retail chains has already been launched this summer. The simultaneous launch of two goods control systems will create additional costs for the business, the daily said. As a result, customers may face rising prices in stores, a spokesperson for the Association of Retail Companies (ACORT) told Izvestia.

Both control systems are aimed at eliminating counterfeit from the sale, the daily said.

The ACORT and retailers doubt that the electronic verification system will help to solve the counterfeit problem and already asked the government to delay its introduction until the end of February 2020, when the labeling experiment is expected to be finished, but received no positive response.

Artyom Belov, head of Russia’s National Dairy Producers Union, or Soyuzmoloko, told PRIME that a full-scale launch of the labeling system may raise production costs by 2.5–3%.

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