Why the prices of the most affordable vegetables are rising. Why domestic cabbage and carrots are becoming more expensive in Russia Why carrots have become more expensive

Prices for the "borscht set" are growing much faster than for other vegetables, according to Rosstat data. For example, in May, cucumbers and tomatoes even fell in price by more than ten percent. However, prices for carrots rose by 7.3 percent, onions - by five percent, beets - by 12 percent, and fresh white cabbage - by almost 20 percent, according to Rosstat.

In June, prices for popular vegetables continued to grow at an accelerated pace. During the first week of the month, onions added another three percent in price, carrots - four, and cabbage - 12 percent.

Experts attribute the increase in prices to a seasonal factor. "Last year's stocks of Russian vegetables in storage facilities have come to an end, only imported products remain on the market, which are more expensive," says Kirill Lashin, head of the analytical department of the National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Producers.

However, let's look at the geography of imports. We mainly import onions from Egypt, and carrots - from Israel. That is, we buy these vegetables for foreign currency, because the prices for them in Russia can really be higher due to the depreciation of the ruble. But potatoes are also imported from Egypt. At the same time, the product has risen in price by only 0.7 percent over the week. But the leader in terms of price growth - cabbage - comes to us mainly from neighboring Belarus.

This year, in addition to the spring deficit, rising vegetable prices have spurred an increase in the cost of gasoline

Potato production volumes in Russia fluctuate greatly, there is a problem of a shortage of high-quality potato storage facilities, says Aleksey Krasilnikov, executive director of the Potato Union. But still, in recent years, modern potato storage facilities for 500,000 tons of products have been put into operation in the country. This allows you to smooth out the seasonal shortage of the product and restrain price fluctuations.

But with cabbage the situation is worse, we cannot keep our goods until spring. Knowing these problems, producers in neighboring Belarus have created a vegetable production and storage system focused on the Russian market. Cabbage is brought to us during the period when the supply is most limited - from April to July, Kirill Lashin explains.

But this year, in addition to the spring deficit, the rise in prices was spurred by an increase in the cost of gasoline and an increase in the cost of transporting goods. Additional costs have to be factored into prices. Often retail chains increase the cost of premium goods, and can also increase prices for the most inexpensive goods where the consumer does not notice it, explains Andrey Karpov, chairman of the board of the Association of Retail Market Experts.

Cabbage, like other vegetables of the "borscht set", costs several tens of rubles per kilogram, so consumers will not feel an increase in the price of a couple of rubles, and demand will not decrease. As a result, the growth rate of prices for cabbage in the spring of this year was twice as high as last year.

The construction of modern vegetable stores in Russia will help eliminate price fluctuations. Such work is already underway, notes Kirill Lashin. And the seasonal increase in the cost of vegetables should stop in July, when domestic vegetables begin to enter the market, experts promise.

Our Dear Carrot

Irina Nacharova, Channel 6 correspondent: “A month ago, residents of Vladivostok found imported carrots on store shelves at a price of more than 2,500 per kilogram. In Vladimir, a root crop was not seen at that price. But a significant increase in the price of carrots was registered by official bodies.”

According to Vladimirstat, greatest growth prices - almost 6 percent - fixed for carrots and cabbage.

Why am I so precious?

This is the only question that interests the organizers of the action. On February 3, Molodaya Gvardiya activists monitored prices in order to understand which products were clearly overpriced. For example, carrots at a price of 45 rubles per kilogram seemed very expensive to young people.

Can you imagine, a carrot costs 8 rubles and it, our Vladimir product, is sold on the market for 45 rubles. - Girl, I'll give you 50 rubles, buy it. What is that, an insult? You can't buy anything for 50 rubles. Even the grandmothers here, at the bus stop.

As it turned out, the Young Guards in one of outlets The market asked for documents for this vegetable. And carrots, allegedly from Suzdal, turned out to be grown in the Murom region. By the way, the washed root crop, allegedly from Morocco, was of the same origin according to invoices. Do the sellers pass off the Vladimir product as imported and make money on it?

Zhanna Afonina, seller: “They say that you wash these carrots yourself, and then sell them for 80 rubles. Is that true? No, it’s not like that. of course, there is nothing else to do. At night, I wash carrots.

Natalya Mitrofanova, seller: "Why exactly carrots? I'm so interested. I don't know, we generally buy through the fifth hand. That's why it's so."

Buyers are not interested in the long way of carrots from farms to counters. But the price is surprising. By the way, cheaper root crops are in demand.

Nadezhda Alexandrovna, a resident of Vladimir: "We will buy unwashed. - Will you wash it yourself? Yes. - In your opinion, how much should a carrot cost? - In our Russia, it should not cost more than 20 rubles per kilogram."

While the activists with placards under police guard were carrying out their action, the market administration also called representatives of the law enforcement agencies.

We arrived at the push of a button. Was there an emergency call? - Yes.

The Young Guard showed permission to hold the action. The question has been settled.

We always have everything according to the law.

Picketing the market is only the beginning. Young people decided to continue their fight against the unreasonable rise in prices for socially important food products with the help of official agencies.

Svetlana Sokolova, an activist of the regional branch of the Young Guard: "We have prepared two letters: to the Federal Antimonopoly Service and to the prosecutor's office of the Vladimir region with a request to check whether the prices are reasonably high, not justified, and we ask them to look into this situation and take appropriate measures" .

Over the past month, the most common vegetables have rapidly risen in price in Russia - cabbage, onions, carrots, and beets.
Prices for the "borscht set" are growing much faster than for other vegetables, according to Rosstat data. For example, in May, cucumbers and tomatoes even fell in price by more than ten percent. However, carrots rose in price by 7.3 percent, onions - by five percent, beets - by 12 percent, and fresh white cabbage - by almost 20 percent, according to Rosstat.

In June, prices for popular vegetables continued to grow at an accelerated pace. During the first week of the month, onions added another three percent in price, carrots - four, and cabbage - 12 percent.
Experts attribute the increase in prices to a seasonal factor.
“Last year’s stocks of Russian vegetables in storage facilities have come to an end, only imported products remain on the market, which are more expensive,” says Kirill Lashin, head of the analytical department of the National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Producers.

However, let's look at the geography of imports. We mainly import onions from Egypt, and carrots from Israel. That is, we buy these vegetables for foreign currency, because the prices for them in Russia can really be higher due to the depreciation of the ruble. But potatoes are also imported from Egypt. At the same time, the product has risen in price by only 0.7 percent over the week. But the leader in terms of price growth - cabbage - comes to us mainly from neighboring Belarus.

This year, in addition to the spring deficit, rising vegetable prices have spurred an increase in the cost of gasoline
Potato production volumes in Russia fluctuate greatly, there is a problem of a shortage of high-quality potato storage facilities, says Aleksey Krasilnikov, executive director of the Potato Union. But still, in recent years, modern potato storage facilities for 500,000 tons of products have been put into operation in the country. This allows you to smooth out the seasonal shortage of the product and restrain price fluctuations.
But with cabbage the situation is worse, we cannot keep our goods until spring. Knowing these problems, producers in neighboring Belarus have created a vegetable production and storage system focused on the Russian market. Cabbage is brought to us during the period when the supply is most limited - from April to July, Kirill Lashin explains.

But this year, in addition to the spring deficit, the rise in prices was spurred by an increase in the cost of gasoline and an increase in the cost of transporting goods. Additional costs have to be factored into prices. Often retail chains increase the cost of premium goods, and they can also increase prices for the most inexpensive goods where the consumer does not notice this, Andrey Karpov, chairman of the board of the Association of Retail Market Experts, explains.
Cabbage, like other vegetables of the "borscht set", costs several tens of rubles per kilogram, so consumers will not feel an increase in the price of a couple of rubles, and demand will not decrease. As a result, the growth rate of prices for cabbage in the spring of this year was twice as high as last year.

The construction of modern vegetable stores in Russia will help eliminate price fluctuations. Such work is already underway, notes Kirill Lashin. And the seasonal increase in the cost of vegetables should stop in July, when domestic vegetables begin to enter the market, experts promise.

Rosstat records the rapid rise in prices for the most popular vegetables, including onions, carrots, cabbage and beets. The growth in the cost of the components of the "borscht set" in May was faster compared to the "salad" products. Thus, prices for white cabbage, beets, carrots and onions increased by an average of 20%, 12%, 7.3% and 5%, respectively, while tomatoes with cucumbers fell in price by more than 10%.

In June, the trend continued: during the first summer week, cabbage rose in price by 12%, carrots - by 4%, onions - by 3%.

The National Union of Producers of Vegetables and Fruits explains the rise in prices by seasonality.

- Last year's stocks of vegetables grown in the Russian Federation came to an end, the storage facilities were empty. As a result, only more expensive imported products remained on the market,” representatives of the organization explained.

Independent experts, for their part, pay attention to the geography of imports. According to them, cabbage from “fraternal” Belarus is the most expensive for Russians. Egyptian carrots and Israeli onions are much cheaper, and this despite the fact that the purchase of these vegetables is made for foreign currency. On the other hand, potatoes are also imported "from the banks of the Nile", but their price increase is not so noticeable (+0.7% in the first week of June).

Aleksey Krasilnikov, representative of the Potato Union of the Russian Federation, complains about the lack of high-quality storage facilities and the gap in yields in different years.

“However, in recent years, modern potato storage facilities for 500,000 tons have been put into operation. This makes it possible to partially smooth out the seasonal shortage of potatoes and restrain price fluctuations,” the expert added.

With cabbage, according to Kirill Lashin of the National Union of Vegetable Producers, things are worse.

We can't keep our goods until spring. Knowing about our problem, Belarusian manufacturers have created a system of production and storage oriented to the Russian market. As a result, cabbage is brought to us during the period of the greatest shortage of supply - from mid-spring to mid-summer, the expert explained.

This year, the rise in prices, along with the seasonal factor, has spurred an increase in the cost of transporting goods and an increase in the cost of fuel. These factors must be factored into the final price.

Cabbage, like other vegetables of the "borscht set", costs customers several tens of rubles per kilo, therefore a temporary increase in the price of a couple of rubles will not affect the dynamics of demand and will not hit the wallet of the average Russian, experts cited earlier agree.

According to Lashin, it is possible to "reduce" seasonal price fluctuations by building modern vegetable stores in the Russian Federation.

“Work is already underway,” he says.

The cessation of the seasonal rise in prices for vegetables should be expected in July, with the appearance of a new crop of domestic vegetables on the shelves.

Currency roots of cabbage

Domestic products will rise in price, no matter how fines the prosecutor's office threatens - even the cost of vegetables, milk and bread in Russia depends very much on the exchange rate and imports, manufacturers assure.

Rising food prices - for meat, vegetables, buckwheat, sugar, sunflower oil- “It is connected, among other things, with biased reasons,” said Igor Artemyev, head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), on January 23 at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

“We initiated ninety-eight cases on specific facts of overpricing, which have nothing to do with external conditions. Either they have nothing to do with imports (everything is produced in our country), or the share of the increase in the price of imports is a few percent, but in fact the growth is 30, 40, 50%, etc.,” Artemyev said. (quote from government website).

Basic foodstuffs in Russia have really risen in price: only in December 2014, prices for a part of socially significant food in the Russian regions increased, according to Rosstat, by 30%, in January the price increase did not stop.

More than 20 food products are socially significant: meat different types, fish, eggs, cereals, flour, vegetables, sunflower oil, milk and dairy products, sugar and salt, bread, tea, apples, etc. Russian production: for example, cabbage suddenly broke into the leaders of price growth in many regions, the price of which increased by 29% in December.

Such pricing attracted the attention of not only the FAS, but also the prosecutor's office, whose employees came to the store with checks.

Manufacturers explain that they are forced to raise prices due to rising costs. And that is increasing due to the strong dependence on the ruble exchange rate and imports. Vedomosti learned from industry experts and food manufacturers what is the share of direct and indirect foreign exchange costs in the cost of basic food products. It follows from the answers that in most cases it is at least a third of the price of the finished product.

Course for products

So, for markedly more expensive cabbage and carrots, the foreign exchange component in the cost reaches 75%, says the general director of the state farm near Moscow. Lenin Pavel Grudinin. In the cost of potatoes, the share of the foreign exchange component is from 20% in inefficient farms to 70% in high-tech ones, Grudinin calculated. “This is mainly the cost of buying seeds, chemicals, equipment and spare parts for it,” he explains. An employee of the Ministry of Agriculture confirms the validity of the calculations: the ruble exchange rate has a great influence on progressive farms equipped with modern technology and growing large volumes of crops. “They work with imported seeds, foreign machinery, fertilizers and plant protection products, so now everything has become very expensive for them,” he admits. But the ministry is discussing with manufacturers to reduce dependence through an import substitution program, he says.

Cost price chicken eggs, which are almost all domestic on store shelves, approximately 75-80% depends on the dynamics of the ruble exchange rate against major currencies. Directly through imports, 10-15% of the cost is formed due to the cost of feed additives, veterinary drugs and vitamins, calculated Albert Davleev from the consulting agency Agrifood Strategies. Another 65% of the cost is associated with grain prices. It is a commodity whose price also depends on currency fluctuations, he adds.

To limit the growth in grain prices, an export duty on wheat began to operate from February 1. The government's goal is to increase the supply of grain to the domestic market, a representative of Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told Vedomosti earlier. But because of the price gap between domestic and world prices Russian manufacturers preferred at the end of last year to sell grain under foreign trade contracts. Domestic prices tend to match the prices of export deliveries concluded in foreign currency, and as a result, grain prices have increased by 60% since the beginning of the harvest, recalls Dmitry Vostrikov, development director of Rusprodsoyuz.

The production of chicken meat, which has been successfully developing in Russia for many years, depends on the exchange rate even more strongly, Davleev notes. About 2-3% of the cost of a chicken carcass is accounted for by imported hatchery eggs. Soybean meal, veterinary drugs and feed additives are also purchased abroad. In addition, up to 60% of the cost of a broiler in live weight is formed at the expense of the cost of grain, which is fed to chickens. Products from chicken meat in stores have risen in price by 30-35% precisely due to the increase in prices for live chickens, Davleev believes. Recycling does not affect the cost as much final product, as investments in it are already practically frozen, he explains.

The currency dependence of other types of meat is not lower, producers and experts assure. In pork, at least 30-40% of the prime cost is genetic material, concentrated feed, veterinary drugs, equipment, lists components dependent on imports and foreign exchange rates, Mushegh Mamikonyan, President of the Meat Council of the Common Economic Space. The proportions of these constituents vary by manufacturer, he adds. The rest of the cost of pork is wheat and corn, Mamikonyan says.

As in other types of animal husbandry, the main cost items in beef production also depend on imports and currency, says Denis Cherkesov, director general of the National Union of Beef Producers.

Prices for fish, even for cod or pollock caught by Russian fishermen, are even more dependent on exchange rates. About 90% of the catch is exported and the domestic price for Russian market completely determined by the export price, explains Vostrikov from Rusprodsoyuz. Well, in the price of imported whole frozen fish sold by weight, the currency component reaches 99% of the cost, the expert continues: “This product is sold in the same form in which it is imported, the ruble component in its cost is only transport from the border to the warehouse” .

In the production of dairy products, the main share in the cost falls, of course, on raw milk, the cost of which is indirectly tied to the currency due to the cost of maintaining livestock and imported equipment, says Andrei Danilenko, chairman of the industry association Soyuzmoloko. In the production of a popular cheese, such as "Russian", the cost of milk is, according to his calculations, 70%, and for butter, according to the calculations of a representative of a large dairy plant, - 92%.

The cost of bread is 20-30% dependent on grain prices, Vostrikov calculated. And, for example, in the cost of pasta from wheat flour of the highest grade, 64% falls on flour.

Most categories of food products and consumer goods are highly dependent on imports, and this applies not only to socially significant goods, says Yulia Marueva, partner at the Nielsen food group in Russia. “Cocoa and nuts for chocolate, milk for a number of dairy products are imported by companies with localized production from abroad, and their costs are pegged to the currency,” she says. Local raw materials usually either do not satisfy manufacturers in terms of quality, or are presented in insufficient volumes, or are too expensive, the expert explains.

Everything becomes more expensive

Socially significant groceries, which are almost entirely produced in Russia, depend on the dollar, not only because of raw materials. Another significant cost item is the standard packaging costs for all groceries. In the cost of vermicelli, they make up about 10%. At the same time, most of the raw materials for the production of packaging (paints, adhesives, polymer additives, etc.) are imported.

Russian-made packaged rice is also tied to imports due to packaging, as well as the use of fertilizers and plant protection products. Even domestic fertilizers "evolve in price depending on the situation on the foreign exchange market," says Vostrikov.

And even in the prime cost of packaged salt, the share of expenses dependent on currencies, according to Rusprodsoyuz, is approximately 34%: this is packaging, fuels and lubricants, spare parts, expendable materials, depreciation of imported equipment, etc.

About 10% of the cost of producing a popular cheese, such as Rossiyskoye, is spent on enzyme, equipment and packaging, again imported or dependent on imports.

Another notable item of expenditure is the maintenance of imported equipment. In the production of butter, for example, about 1.5% of the cost falls on the depreciation of equipment purchased before the devaluation, an employee of one of the dairy plants calculated. And for equipment purchased in recent months, depreciation costs will double.

At leading enterprises bakery industry there is high-performance foreign-made equipment, the maintenance and equipment of which depend on the exchange rate of the ruble against major currencies, and this is a rather noticeable dependence, because on average depreciation costs amount to 5% of the cost of bread, Vostrikov calculates.

In non-food categories, the dependence is even stronger, Nielsen's Marueva says: Typically, at least half of the ingredients in personal care and personal care products are imported chemicals, she explains. In addition, these goods are produced on imported equipment, which means that it is necessary to bear the cost of its purchase, maintenance and repair with an eye to exchange rates, she adds. For example, Procter & Gamble imports blades from Germany for their Gillette razors. In addition, Russian detergents and hygiene products are bottled in imported plastic bottles. "The growth of the euro/ruble exchange rate increases the cost of the Russian division's razors and reduces profits," John Moller, CFO of Procter & Gamble, stated in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Kimberly-Clark, which produces Huggies diapers in Stupino near Moscow, is also forced to raise prices due to the fall of the ruble. Despite the localized production, the prices of filler materials and packaging are dollar-denominated. “We have to raise prices to cover the huge increase in the cost of imported materials in local currency,” Kimberly-Clark chief executive Thomas Falk said a week ago on a conference call following the results of the last quarter of 2014.

Retail signal

Retail chains are well aware of these manufacturers' estimates. Currency dependence is one of the main arguments by which suppliers explain the reason for the increase in selling prices, says the executive director of the Association of Companies retail Andrey Karpov. All the chains can do is try to find a product with a lower dependency, like buying a product packaged with Russian components, he argues. Before the fall of the ruble, such packaging was even more expensive, but now it has become more attractive in price, he notes.

Deputy Prime Ministers in charge of the retail and food markets, Igor Shuvalov and Arkady Dvorkovich, are also familiar with the position of manufacturers, assures one of the members of the commission for monitoring and promptly responding to changes in the food market situation, created to control prices. “They themselves are well aware that in the current conditions the price can change and why it should change, and do not ask for a detailed explanation,” he says. The representative of the FAS yesterday could not say how exactly the service determines the validity or unreasonability of price increases and how it relates to the arguments of manufacturers about a large foreign exchange component in the cost of domestic products.

“Inspections of stores by the Prosecutor General’s Office are a message that prices should not rise for the population, and not for retailers,” says one of the retailers.

In such circumstances, retail market leaders may sacrifice their margins to avoid government intervention, noted Barclays' Boris Vilidnitsky. Analysts are concerned that the situation with Russian retail and officials resembles the situation in retail market petroleum products a few years ago. Then the statement of President Vladimir Putin about high prices for gasoline led to a decrease in prices on the market, although there were no market preconditions for a change in the cost of fuel, Vilidnitsky recalls.

x5 Retail Group(Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, Karusel chains), after inspections, disclosed data on the average mark-up in its stores and announced that it had reduced it for a number of goods since the beginning of December in order to prevent a jump in prices and an outflow of customers. For example, for bread it decreased from 24% to minus 1%. Growth wholesale prices ahead of price growth on the shelves, concludes X5 representative Vladimir Rusanov.