"I am convinced that the state ought to regulate prices on such basic foods as bread and milk,” Sergey Mironov says.
Photo: Sergey Semyenov
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Federation Council Speaker Pushes for Regulating Food Prices
Russia’s Federation Council Speaker Sergey Mironov is concerned about official statistics indicating soaring prices on staple foods in Russia, the parliament's upper chamber said Wednesday.
“I am convinced that the state ought to regulate prices on such basic foods as bread and milk,” Sergey Mironov told reporters on Wednesday. “We need to buy from farmers not only grain at fixed prices but milk and meat as well.” Special agricultural exchanges should be set up for state purchases of agricultural goods, according to the speaker of Russian Parliament’s upper house.
“This issue is all the more acute if we view a galloping growth in food imports as a threat to national security,” Mr. Mironov underscored. “Authorities ought to take a more active part in staple foods pricing, not only record growing prices on the basic food basket.”
“We need to entirely reconsider the state’s relation to agriculture as part of a strategy to ensure the natural food security,” the Federal Council Speaker said. “We need a clear state policy on agriculture purchases to keep prices low and overcome prices disparity, streamline machinery leasing, gasification and improve facilities in the countryside. Russian farmers will be unable to provide the country with food if there is no clear and consistent policy in the agricultural industry.”
Russian statistics officials reported a 7 percent hike in bread prices over the past seven months. The basic food basket added 17 percent in value to 1,726 rubles. In Moscow, the figure is well above 2,000 rubles, and 3,000 rubles in some other regions. Utilities tariffs are also on a rise, an average 13 percent up nationwide this year.
Sergey Mironov added that growing food prices undermine a declared goal to dramatically increase living standards in Russia. “No pay or pension rises can make Russians feel better if essential goods such as break, flour, milk and vegetable will keep moving up,” he said.
The Federation Council speaker pointed to a wide range of prices across Russia. In the Far East, the basic food basket costs 4,879 rubles in Chukotka, 3,000 rubles in Kamchatka and Yakutia while in Siberia’s Omsk and Orenburg and Tatarstan on the Volga it is below 1,500 rubles. Sergey Mironov says that only state prices regulation can alleviate the situation with a particular emphasis on basic food for pensioners and utilities tariffs.
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