Buckwheat in Russia will double

Russian retail chains began to receive notifications from suppliers about raising prices for buckwheat in connection with a low harvest in Siberia. This was reported by Kommersant with reference to representatives of Russian retailers. Similar warnings received several federal retailers at once. In addition to rising prices, suppliers notified the possible disruption of planned supplies. First of all, the upcoming deficit is explained by the corruption of the crop in the Altai Territory. So, a member of the board of the O`kei Group of Companies Marina Kagan told the publication that at the meetings, suppliers have already made it clear that they would not be able to fulfill obligations in the volume of shipments soon, explaining this crop failure in Siberia. She also added that some farmers in anticipation of further growth in market prices are in no hurry to sell existing reserves. The head of the corporate and external communications of the Russian unit Metro Cash & Carry Oksana Tokareva said that all suppliers of buckwheat, except for the Mistral company, had already stopped selling products to the network stores. In turn, the representative of the X5 Retail Group (Perekrestok, Pyaterochka, Carousel) Vladimir Rusanov said that his company has not yet received notifications of disruption of buckwheat, but a number of counterparties reported the upcoming increase in prices for it.

“Buckwheat of a high price segment - we are offered an increase in selling prices up to 20%, a low price segment - we are warned about an increase by almost double,” he said , ”he said, emphasizing that in X5 they are not ready to accept new conditions of suppliers and plan to first check their validity for the availability of possible speculations.

The problem with the crop was confirmed by the manager of one of the Altai manufacturers of buckwheat.

“Due to constant rains, they managed to collect only 15–20% of the crop. Now it is already snowing, so it is impossible to do it harvest, ”the interlocutor of Kommersant complained. According to him, the deficit can begin after two months and the cost of the product will probably increase by four to five times.

The same opinion is shared by the director of the Association of manufacturers and suppliers of food products "Rusprodsoyuz" Dmitry Vostrikov. According to him, in the Altai Territory, where about 45% of buckwheat is produced, most of the harvest lies under the snow, and the agricultural producers froze the sale of the remaining reserves.

“This already leads to a significant raising of prices, now the processors from farmers have come off offers to buy buckwheat at a price of 50 rubles per 1 kg instead of a previously existing price of 15 rubles,” said Vostrikov.

Under these conditions, suppliers have to either increase the level of selling prices in retail chains, or completely stop deliveries.

The last time the sharp rise in the buckwheat occurred in 2010, after a significant part of the crop in the Russian Federation died due to anomalous heat. At the end of the year, buckwheat prices jumped about three times; Growth in cereal prices has become one of the factors in acceleration of inflation. To contain prices for buckwheat the country of the Customs Union at the end of 2010, imported duties on cereal were diverse; Duties again entered into force only in mid -2011.