The rise in prices for poultry and eggs in Russia will remain within the general food inflation. Thus, the Ministry of Agriculture commented on the messages about the request of suppliers to increase the cost of these categories of goods, RIA Novosti reports.
The authorities did not believe in the possibility of such a development of events, indicating that there were no prerequisites for exacerbating the situation. Short-term spikes in price increases are possible, but only until the end of the first quarter.
The department indicated that the epizootic situation could deteriorate pointwise, feed prices will rise somewhere and demand will weaken. Competition between product sellers and processors is also possible, which will create a short-term rise in prices.
At the same time, feed costs will soon decrease due to market regulation in relation to grain and oilseeds. The availability and expansion of preferential loans for production will play a separate role.
According to Rosstat, last year eggs rose by 15.1 percent, which is more than twice as high as food inflation and three times higher than the general level of price increases. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the average annual prices for poultry products have hardly changed over the past few years, and in 2020 wholesale poultry meat was even cheaper than in 2019.
Earlier, a source in the market said that poultry farms offered retail chains to increase prices for poultry and eggs by ten percent. Retailers agreed with the suppliers’ arguments and passed the information to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Elena Stepanova, deputy general director of Rospitsesoyuz, stressed that the companies kept prices throughout 2020 thanks to internal resources, but now the margin of safety has dried up.