The sharp rise in prices for chicken eggs is causing concern among many Russian residents. But what caused this sharp increase in cost, what is the situation with food security in the country, and is it true that Russia produces more food than normal? Deputy Chairman of the Board of Rusprodsoyuz Dmitry Leonov talks about this.
The main reason for the increase in prices for chicken eggs is bird flu, as in 2014. Retail chains have long held back price increases by concluding contracts with suppliers. However, suppliers could not deliver the required volume of goods, and they had to work with losses. As a result, prices for chicken eggs and chicken meat have increased, writes Pravda.Ru.
Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev assures that prices will return to normal in two to three weeks, when egg imports will be increased. However, imports can only be increased from January 1, when import duties will be reset to zero. It is planned to import 1.2 billion eggs from abroad, while average consumption in Russia is 3.5 billion eggs per month.
The question of whether prices will return to their previous level depends on the time required to restore production. In November, 3.1 billion eggs were produced, a slight deficit. However, many Russians have switched from meat to chicken eggs, as eggs are an accessible and cheap source of protein. This also increased demand and created shortages, which in turn led to higher prices.
Retail chains made a mistake by not raising prices on time. If an enterprise that produces chicken eggs lost half of its population, then prices had to rise by an appropriate amount to maintain wages for workers and save jobs. However, retail chains did not take this into account, which led to an explosive rise in prices.
In general, food security in Russia is quite high. According to the food security doctrine, we should produce grain at 95%, but in fact we produce at 177%. We also exceed production standards in other products such as sugar, vegetable oil, meat and fish. Some of these products are produced twice as much as we consume.
Source: Rosbalt
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