FAS Expert Council discussed providing food products to the South Federal District

Experts discussed current obstacles to developing own production of food products and ensuring food products supplies from other regions of Russia to Crimea.

A Working Group of FAS Expert Council on Agro-Industrial Complex had a meeting on 29 June 2017. The event chaired by Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and branch associations of companies in the agro-industrial complex.

The experts discussed food product supplies to the South Federal District and possible actions of the antimonopoly body in this field.  

Head of FAS Department for Control over Chemical Industry and Agro-Industrial Complex, Anna Mirochinenko reported that FAS had analyzed prices for the main types of food products [1]. Based on the monitoring finding, the Antimonopoly Serviceestablished that prices for these types of productsin Crimea, except butter, are comparable with prices in the nearest regions (the Rostov region, the Krasnodar region and the Voronezh region).

The meeting participants pointed out that the main issues of supplying food products to the South Federal District are related to infrastructure and logistics limitations.

Regarding investment projects in Crimea, particularly, on the milk market and the pork market: according to the experts, under the conditions of relative decrease of consumer demand, excessive production capacity, raw materials deficiency (specifics of the milk industry), in the near future no significant introduction of new capacities in Crimea can be expected.

Summing up the meeting, the experts highlighted several directions necessary for improvement of the price behaviour on the food markets in Crimea.

“Developing infrastructure, improving logistical chains, increasing trading space, strengthening control over traders involved in food products supplies – all these measures will encourage market saturation and reduction of food prices in the peninsula”, pointed out Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov.

[1] Beef, pork, sugar, cooled and frozen chicken, butter, sunflower oil, pasteurized and sterilized drinking milk