Open bins

Rosrezerv will be put at the service of the market economy

Rosrezerv should soon transform from stocks of various goods in case of war into a modern market mechanism. “The huge material resource that is in the state reserve system should work for the development of the economy,” said Minister of Economic Development German Gref at the anniversary board of the federal agency dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the department. “Now Rosreserv is preparing an appropriate proposal on how to organize normal exchange trading in all types of goods that today do not actually have exchange pricing, but are part of the structure of the state reserve,” the minister added.

Huge reserves of various goods (not only stewed meat and quilted jackets, but also gas, grain, gasoline, etc.) are currently simply stored in secret warehouses and sold only due to the expiration date. But if the government had the opportunity to make commodity interventions at the right time using these reserves, then crises like the salt shortage a year ago would simply not occur in the country. “The very presence of such a large reserve will help calm the market and prevent speculative surges in prices,” the minister believes.

The very idea of ​​using Rosrezerv for commodity investments is not new; German Gref has already spoken about it before. Moreover, there are even examples of using Rosrezerv reserves for the needs of the country. The minister told how over 70 billion cubic meters of gas were used from underground storage facilities last cold winter. However, putting this process on an industrial scale turned out to be not so easy. “There is no suitable site yet, we simply have nowhere to offer this,” Mr. Gref complained. At best, an exchange for trading petroleum products will be created at the end of this year, and Rosrezerv's petroleum product reserves can be listed on it only after trading volumes reach significant levels. At the same time, the head of Rosrezerv, Alexander Grigoriev, clarified that the 2007 budget does not include funds for the purchase of crude oil. The grain exchange will not appear until 2008. And it will be possible to start trading all other food products only after the adoption of legislation on derivative financial instruments, such as futures and options.

In addition to smoothing out peaks in demand for various goods, “homeland bins” can also perform another market function. The minister cited the example of the US oil reserve system, which serves as the main indicator of oil price formation. Russian reserves can also play this role, Mr. Gref believes.

Vera SITNINA