Russian govt to continue monitoring butter prices - Deputy PM Patrushev

MOSCOW. Oct 23 (Interfax) - The Russian government will continue to monitor prices for butter, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev said during a meeting he chaired with dairy producers and processors, representatives of major retail chains and relevant government agencies, his press service said.

It was noted at the meeting that imports from a number of countries have been increased to stabilize prices. "However, this doesn't negate the task of a systemic increase in production. The dairy industry is a socially significant sector of the agro-industrial complex. Being aware of this, the government has been providing producers and processors with a set of state support measures for several years," Patrushev said.

This refers specifically to preferential working capital and investment loans, subsidized leasing and unified subsidy measures.

The relevant government agencies were assigned a number of tasks at the end of the meeting, which aim to stabilize prices for butter on the domestic market.

As reported, Rosstat has recently been recording a significant increase in butter prices. They rose 5.1% in September, the highest rate of growth on the dairy market. Prices rose 21.5% between the start of the year and the middle of October.

The situation has drawn the attention of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, which sent inquiries to major butter producers and demanded information from them about each planned increase in wholesale prices until the end of 2024. Based on this data, the service is analyzing the basis for the increase in wholesale prices.

In addition, a number of dairy producers have begun to cut butter production or suspend shipments to retail chains, and have also stopped warning about price increases, Izvestia said.

However, many producers later said that production is not only not being cut, but may increase.