BBC Russian: unfrozen prices in Russia

[K. A. Pital]

Prices unfrozen: return to talons?

Mikhail Beliy, for BBCRussian, Ulyanovsk.

Entrance to a food shop: welcome, or "no trespassers"?

Last days it's problematic to find fresh milk produce on the shelves of Ulyanovsk shops. Not a sudden deficit, but a low demand are to blame - for many citizens milk, keffier or sourcream simply went out of buying range.

For the Zheltov family buying food is a whole ritual. On weekends the whole family gathers to go to a supermarket and buys food according to a strictly pre-deteremined list.

Recently the citizens of Ulyanovsk noted that while their food basket remained the same, expenses rose significantly.

Even a pack of cottage cheese is a pretty hard expense for buyers, leading them to think awhile before buying it.

The long-awaited 1st May "defreezing" of prices heavily strikes the budgets of Russian families. The province is all the more harmed by the price rise since the wages here are always lower than in the capital.

And if some just had to correct their expenses, many were forced to simply fortfeit the most necessary calories - milk, eggs, butter.

"Washed hands with soap? Have tea without sugar"

"In a week we usually consume 4 kilograms of oranges and as many apples, 4 kilograms of cucumbers and tomatoes, 250-300 grams of cheese, 1 piece of wurst, 1 kg of sausages, - Natalia Zheltova carefully assembles the foods. - Also we drink 3-4 bags of milk, four packs of yoghurt. Plus coffee, tea, sugar and butter"

Demonstration in Petersburg

The rising prices cause a consequent wave of protests in the last several months.

The list Zheltovs use is almost unchanged every week and is easily put on a single notebook paper.

The list's prices contrast sharply with the speeches of the local officials. Recently the Minister of Agriculture of Ulyanovsk region Alexander Yakunin claimed on the congress of local government that a liter of sunflower oil costs 36 roubles, while a kilo of cheese - 172 roubles [SB's note from Russia - Cheese is well beyond 200 and topping 300, Sunflower oil is long over 100 and topping 180 in some places]

The Zheltovs are wondering: even in the market the price of a liter of unbottled, unrefined oil is long past 50 roubles, and ther is no cheese cheaper than 200 roubles, period.

"Fairytale prices. It seems they take them off the wall, - says Natalia, - Perhaps the officials will explain where they buy such cheap products so that we all can?"

Last months she's keeping all product cheques from the shops.

"We can take two cheques, today's and last week one, to get a grip on dynamics. The prices are rising very rapidly. Here a few kopeks, there a few kopeks - at first it wasn't so noticeable, but when the growth became permanent, people felt uneasy - the money is just evaporating". The Zheltov family is, by Russian measures, a well-off middle class family.

"We're simple soviet citizens, - Natalia Zheltova jokes. - Dad is a technical sciences specialist in a cellphone company, the mother is a teacher, and I work as a translator in a private company. With such prices the wages are not enough, so we often think "we will buy this tomorrow, not today, or maybe two days from now". Like in that old joke, "if you washed hands with soap, today tea without sugar".

In a week the Zheltovs spend over 2,5 thousand roubles on food. That means over 10 thousand a month (10K is a Russian average salary, SB)

Since 1st of May, like the Ulyanovsk citizens have noted, the prices started rising again.

"I want sourcream so much sometimes"

Pensioneer Olga Vladimirovna Apraksina compares her today's life with war times. [SB: to hear that from a Leningrad blockade veteran, always ires me]


"No pension is enough for even the most necessary food" - Olga Apraksina, pensioneer

"In the blockade we were granted just a bulk of bread, so it is now. I have totally forgotten the taste of milk. I can't buy it. I buy half a piece of bread each day, for 6 roubles 8 kopeks. I boil potato, eat it with salted vegetables from my own garden. Only this way can I survive, - the old woman tells. - Once upon a time, a grandson came to me, he saw that all my boiling cans are empty and was in horror"

Potato with salt cucumber is a constant ration for Olga Vladimirovna. She has no means to buy anything else. The pension of 4500 roubles is spent, 1/3rd for communal payments and medicines.

"Sometimes I want sourcream so much, but the prices are biting so, - she confesses. - I understand that if I only by it, I won't have enough money for the bread. And I want to help the children, too - they are in dire straits as well today"

Milk produce, gone bad from being manufactured 3-4 days ago, is becoming a common sight in Ulyanovsk shops.

Reasons are falling demand. The shops have no reason to order these products daily anymore.

"I see that it falls, but I can't say what the reasons are" - spoke Alexey Rytov, a supermarket director in an interview to BBCRussian.com

Apraksina is sure that the prices are to blame.

"Pack of milk, pack of cottage cheese and pack of sourcream - that's 90 roubles, - she calculates easily. - Multiply by 30. No pension ever will suffice for that, and those are the most necessary products".

Food cards rise again?

The Ulyanovsk region was the first to freeze prices. It happened after Sergey Morozov, the leader of the region, personally visited the shops.


Businessman Sergey Grigoriev: "The prices only hurt, most of all, the poorer citizens"

"Some businessmen, seeing that welfare is increased, pensions are increased, our work in raising wages is picking up, they try to use it and get more profits. We can't allow that", - said the governor back then.

After that, many regional trade networks signed the freeze pact with the government, they promised that "social goods" will not be overpriced more than 10%

"In reality the margin stays constant, as a rule. The rise is done where the producer of food is, and they appeal to rising prices on oils, transport costs" - says the spokesman of "Simbirka" trade network Irina Kurapova.

This explains why prices still rose up even during the freeze, even if slowly.

Statistically, Ulyanovsk region now produces 5700 tons of milk, in Nizhegorod - 31 000 tons, Penzensk - 12 000 tons, and Samara - 9800 tons.

The experts decry the colossal amount of import foods, which dominate the market. On some accounts, in the nearest days the prices for milk may rise a further 20%, making milk a total delicatesse for almost everyone.

The Ulyanovsk administration launched a "Let's help each other" action a few days ago: poorer citizens will be eligible to buy, from 1st May to 1st October 2008, sourcream for 40% cheaper in state stores.

But to get it, the citizens will have to come to the Social Protection Bureau, to get food cards, which many remember from the days of the last years of the USSR.

"He jumped at the food so greedily"

"People write tons of letters, that they cannot suffer such incredible conditions any more. Well, the majority of the population, spends 70% of income on foods. Therefore, the current events are a catastrophy for them, - tells Evgeniy Pytakov, the head of Regional Social Chamber. - The buying capabilities are falling rapidly, no wages can catch up to those prices. And I'm not exaggerating when I say people are in hunger"

Businessman Mikhail Grigoriev admits he doesn't follow prices at all.

He never looks at the price tags in the shop, and throws anything into the carriage. He doesn't conceal that every time he goes to the shop, he spends a sum which is equal to Olga Apraksina's entire pension.

"The price rise, most of all, hurt the poorer citizens. They will think 100 times before bying milk now, - says Mikhail. - A few days ago a boy came to me, asking for some money. I didn't give the money, but bought a pack of bread and a few joughurts. He jumped at the food so greedily, ate everything right before me, he was so hungry".

[Stuart Mackey]

Dairy issues eh? New Zealand is a peak capacity and we have drought issues to contend with, that's one reason.

[K. A. Pital]

Not just dairy. According to some reports, bread also went up 20% (I personally haven't seen such a rise, but it might vary per pergion).

You probably know about the rule "wheat and grain prices may change, rise or fall, but the price of bread stays at the level it rose to" Grain was cheaper or more expensive over the last few years, pretty high amplitude of grain prices - and yet, bread prices rose steadily from 1990s onwards into the 2000s and never went down.

[RIPP_n_WIPE]

Wow I almost feel bad for living in America and complaining that milk cost as much as gas.

Almost.

Honestly though, how the fuck bad is it for folks not in America. I say that because I just came from montreal and shit was OBSCENELY expensive. 6 bucks a gallon for gas. Beer was at least 3 times as expensive. Cigarettes, milk, cheese, bread, fruit, everything was minimum twice as expensive as you'd find it here and we've got folks here who are griping.

[Stuart Mackey]

Not just dairy. According to some reports, bread also went up 20% (I personally haven't seen such a rise, but it might vary per pergion).

You probably know about the rule "wheat and grain prices may change, rise or fall, but the price of bread stays at the level it rose to" Grain was cheaper or more expensive over the last few years, pretty high amplitude of grain prices - and yet, bread prices rose steadily from 1990s onwards into the 2000s and never went down.

Oh yeah, we know that rule very well.

[Stuart Mackey]

Wow I almost feel bad for living in America and complaining that milk cost as much as gas.

Almost.

Honestly though, how the fuck bad is it for folks not in America. I say that because I just came from montreal and shit was OBSCENELY expensive. 6 bucks a gallon for gas. Beer was at least 3 times as expensive. Cigarettes, milk, cheese, bread, fruit, everything was minimum twice as expensive as you'd find it here and we've got folks here who are griping.

That's because US goods are subsidised; you may not pay for it up front, but you sure pay for it via your taxes.

[Phantasee]

A lot of things in the US are very cheap compared to Canada. When I visited my cousins in Windsor/Detroit, I stayed in Windsor. When we crossed the border to see my uncle, we brought back milk and butter, because it was so much cheaper. I also remember being shocked by how many pairs of nice shoes my cousin had, but he explained to me that he bought them all in the US, where they were "$15 a pair". We're talking about shoes that would be $75 minimum on this side of the border. The pairs I could find for $100+? He gets them for $50 max.

[Sidewinder]

Wow. I wonder if the Kremlin will swallow its pride and ask the US for aid again, as it did under Yeltsin.

"Fairytale prices. It seems they take them off the wall, - says Natalia, - Perhaps the officials will explain where they buy such cheap products so that we all can?"

Simple explanation: the officials go up to the grocers and say, "I am a government official. Sell me food cheaply, or I'll have you thrown in jail and revoke your business license." (Nationalist officials did the same fucking thing happened in China after WWII, one reason they lost public support in the Chinese Civil War.)

[Tanasinn]

Wow. I wonder if the Kremlin will swallow its pride and ask the US for aid again, as it did under Yeltsin.

With the morons in charge of our country now, I wonder if they'd say yes given Russia DID ask.

[Colonel Olrik]

A lot of things in the US are very cheap compared to Canada. When I visited my cousins in Windsor/Detroit, I stayed in Windsor. When we crossed the border to see my uncle, we brought back milk and butter, because it was so much cheaper. I also remember being shocked by how many pairs of nice shoes my cousin had, but he explained to me that he bought them all in the US, where they were "$15 a pair". We're talking about shoes that would be $75 minimum on this side of the border. The pairs I could find for $100+? He gets them for $50 max.

I spent around €800 on clothes in my recent trip to the US. As soon as I entered the EU, their value more than triplicated.

Supermaket food was also cheaper, but to compensate it's mostly shit when compared to the European counterparts. We ended up paying more just to buy the stuff without transfats, tons of sugar and of course the omnipresent high fructose corn syrup. Talk about stereotypes.