Products in Russian non-chain trade rose by an average of 5.4 percent last year. Prices soared mainly for vegetable oil, flour, mayonnaise and buckwheat, writes RIA Novosti.
In convenience stores, vegetable oil has risen in price by 47 percent. Next come canned vegetables and mayonnaise, the price of which increased by 23 and 18 percent, respectively. Wheat flour and buckwheat added 17 and 14 percent over the year, respectively. According to Rosstat, in general, in 2020, prices for food products in the country increased by 6.69 percent, and excluding fruit and vegetable products – by 5.44 percent.
Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, said that the measures taken in Russia at the end of last year to combat the rise in prices for basic foodstuffs did not work. One of the main problems remains a sharp rise in the cost of Russian wheat on world markets, he said. Reshetnikov also hinted that prices are influenced by domestic speculators, who hold onto the product in the hope of waiting for its value to rise and selling products more profitable for themselves.
In January this year, the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the measures taken by the government to curb prices for sugar and sunflower oil are solving their problem and can be extended to other categories of goods.