Russian antitrust opposes regulating milk, dairy product prices

MOSCOW, Oct 16 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service opposes a proposal to regulate milk and dairy product prices, Deputy Director Andrei Tsyganov told reporters on Friday.

Earlier in October, National Dairy Producers Union’s Head Andrei Danilenko said that the Russian government may spend 500 million rubles to replenish its intervention fund of powdered milk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the antimonopoly watchdog to provide data on milk and dairy products prices by mid-December. “At present, we are studying this market,” Tsyganov said.

In Russia, the state does not regulate prices for milk and dairy products and has no legal grounds to do it, the official said, adding that the service opposes this.

“We believe that this market is quite competitive, and its participants will figure things out on their own,” he said.

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