Translated material
Money to eat
The minimum food package almost doubled inflation in January
Food is relatively cheaper in large cities, and numerous regional and all-Russian agreements on fixing prices for socially important products have not slowed down the rise in food prices. Such conclusions can be drawn from Rosstat data on inflation for January 2008, published yesterday.According to data published by Rosstat, the increase in the cost of the minimum set of food products is greatest in regions with imported products. The imitation of anti-inflationary measures in the form of a “freeze” of prices for essential products, as expected, did not bring results. Inflation at the end of January 2008 turned out to be 2.3%, which is 0.5% higher than in January last year, and has already “chosen” a quarter of the forecast for price growth for the whole year (it is currently 8.5%). The main contribution to the rise in prices in January was made by food prices. The cost of the minimum food package in Russia on average increased by 4.3% in January, that is, it almost doubled the overall inflation in the country.
Despite the previous all-Russian agreement on price fixing, which had been in force since October last year, food prices continued to rise. For example, in the two weeks after the January holidays, a liter of vegetable oil rose in price by almost 14%. Chicken eggs are almost the same amount.
As Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin recently admitted when discussing the issue of the next “freeze,” food prices in general will “little by little increase.” Rosstat statistics published a few days later showed that the word “quietly” is no longer applicable here. Food prices have increased quite significantly. The average cost of a minimum food package in Russia has increased to 1,880 rubles. per month.
Prices grew fastest in the first month of the year in cities whose food markets are heavily dependent on imported products. These regions do not have their own agriculture; imported products, even domestic ones, are obviously more expensive than “on the mainland” due to transport costs. The most expensive minimum food package in January was in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, where its cost reached 5,039 rubles, in the Kamchatka Territory - 3,225 rubles. and in the Sakhalin region - 2903 rubles.
The lowest cost of the set was recorded in Tatarstan - 1580 rubles, Tambov region - 1591 rubles. and Mordovia - 1597 rubles. The cost of a set in Moscow in January increased by 3.5% and amounted to 2,120 rubles. In St. Petersburg, the price of the set increased over the month by 3.6% - = up to 1998 rubles.
Over the entire last year, the minimum food package, according to official statistics, increased in price by 22.3%. Considering that the minimum set includes a limited list of products, overall food price increases are much higher.
The minimum food set is compiled at the level of physiological survival of the consumer and includes bread, potatoes, several types of vegetables and fruits, sugar, meat, fish, milk, vegetable fats, eggs, salt, tea and spices.
It is the rise in food prices that hits the wallet of the average citizen the hardest, for whom the most adequate indicator of inflation and living standards is the dynamics of the cost of food. The greater the distance from the capital and large cities, the higher the share of spending on food in the structure of expenses and the less on other goods and services. As a result, the poorest part of the population experiences the greatest inflationary pressure.