PRESS: Russian prices for cereals, including buckwheat may rise

MOSCOW, Apr 28 (PRIME) – The suppliers and retailers discuss price hikes for cereals, including Russia’s favorite buckwheat, and the Industry and Trade Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry are working on the problem, Vedomosti business daily reported on Wednesday.

“Representatives of several retail chains and suppliers told Vedomosti that the retailers and suppliers discuss a price rise for cereals. The Industry and Trade Ministry is already concerned with a possible price growth, and has asked the retailers for detailed information on the price growth dynamics for the products, two representatives said,” the business daily reported.

A Verny retail chain representative told Vedomosti that the suppliers informed it in February that purchase prices for cereals rose by 7.5–15% in March and April, and that Verny was yet to accept the proposal of a price increase. Krasny Yar grocery retail chain Commercial Director Vadim Zhurov said that the purchase for cereals “have a strong tendency for growth.”

Dmitry Bolotov, head of the communications center of Eastern Siberia’s largest retailer Komandor, told Vedomosti that the company had also received proposals of a 10–15% increase of prices for buckwheat.

An Industry and Trade Ministry representative said that it monitors prices for the socially important goods on a weekly basis and had not sent a separate request on cereals yet. An Agriculture Ministry representative said that the authority wanted to balance cereal supply by expanding the sowing area for the crops in 2021, and was working on the measures to prevent the price hike for buckwheat. The representative did not mention any specific measures.

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