The coffin is now expensive

Russian Newspaper writes :

“Prices for ritual services in the last year and a half increased by 30-50%. At the same time, import substitution earned in this industry.

According to Rosstat, the average cost of cremation from January 2022 to April of the current increased by 36% - from 21 to 28.7 thousand rubles. The digging of the grave rose by 13% (up to 8765 rubles), the manufacture of the coffin by 52% (up to 6729.69 rubles). <...>

Over the past 2-3 years, lumber has risen in price significantly, explains the deputy chairman of the commission on the funeral of the public council under the Ministry of Construction, vice-president of the Union of funeral organizations and crematoriums (Spock) Vladimir Rodkin. <...>

In recent months, raw materials have become cheaper, but at the price of coffins this may affect a delay of several months, after the manufacturers use previous reserves, says Rodkin. At the same time, the final product may not be cheaper, since there are other factors - logistics has risen in price, salaries are growing.

Earlier, the company bought part of the materials and goods in Ukraine, in the last year I had to quickly look for other suppliers in a number of areas, says Elsalieva.

A very large volume of components and materials came from China, Rodkin notes. Now, due to the global rise in price of oil, gasoline, delivery, everything has risen in price. At the same time, Russian production began to grow. For example, a stone for tombstones previously drove wagons from China, now a stone from Karelia was equal to it in price. The production of stone in Karelia - both for ritual purposes and for construction - has grown greatly over the past year, the expert says. And he is often better than imported. The Chinese stone was more prepared, with higher polishing quality, but often it was chemical polishing, in which the appearance was lost over time.

At the same time, the need for the installation of stone tombstones has decreased significantly, Rodkin says: for reasons of savings, people are increasingly putting wooden crosses with the expectation of replacing them with a stone stove when money appears. At the cost of a cross a little more than a thousand rubles, a monument made of stone, without installation, costs 30-100 thousand.

In general, the cost of the funeral has not changed over the past year, the representative of Spock notes, and from the beginning of the pandemic has grown by about 30%. To bury the deceased in the cemetery will now cost about 120 thousand rubles, to cremate - at 50 thousand. Although it all depends on the specific region and the wishes of relatives, he notes. The prices of coffins vary from 4 thousand to infinity, in the Far North, for example, the digging of the grave in the eternal permafrost is much more expensive, relatives can arrange a wake in an expensive restaurant, and may not arrange them. Some lay out huge amounts for a place in a cemetery in a large city. They sell not land (this is illegal), but a prepared place, explains Rodkin - the grave is covered in advance with tiles, beautifully decorated. In fact, the cost of a place in the famous cemetery in Moscow can be comparable to the cost of an apartment.

The total cost of the funeral is not too growing, since the incomes of the population do not increase, and relatives of the deceased choose a cheaper version of certain ritual services and goods. Let's say they buy a pine coffin instead of an expensive oak. ”