Russia's PM Angered by High Pork Prices

RUSSIA - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was livid about retail pork prices being high in spite of the country's membership in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
calendar icon 17 April 2013
clock icon 2 minute read

The Moscow Times reports that since Russia's membership into the WTO last August, wholesale pork prices have gone down 30 per cent, which has paved the way for an increase in cheaper imports.

Mr Medvedev said it was a shame that shoppers have not noticed the change.

"This is, of course, totally outrageous," he said at a government meeting, Interfax reported. "This means economic regulators don't do their job."

According to Andrei Tsyganov, a deputy chief of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, meat supply deals usually came with a host of other agreements for promotions and advertising. He said that these deals account for most of the resulting pork price.

Mr Medvedev argued that he was prepared to support some legislative changes to rectify the situation. According to him, the law that governs retail trade is amendable.

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich and State Duma deputies will work on the proposals, Mr Dvorkovich said.

On the other hand, the growth of lower-priced imports puts a squeeze on the domestic meat industry, the Prime Minister said.

He said the government was discussing allocating 42 billion rubles (US$ 1.4 billion) in support of the farming sector this year, in addition to the 60 billion rubles that the federal budget has for the purpose.

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