Retail operates smoothly on Saturday; certain regions witness boost in traffic of 10%-50% at retail chains - Belousov

MOSCOW. June 26 (Interfax) - There were no interruptions in the retail sector on Saturday, when the Wagner group attempted a mutiny, despite local growth in demand in certain regions, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said at a cabinet minister meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and other deputy prime ministers.

"Some growth in demand was noted, mainly in the southern regions. According to individual chains, traffic increased by 10%-15% in the Rostov Region, by 30% in Lipetsk, and by 50% in Voronezh. However, there were not any interruptions in retail, and there were plenty of inventories with a large reserve," Belousov said at the meeting.

The ministries on Monday plan to complete analyzing the price dynamics for socially important products, and figures are being taken, Belousov said. "However, judging by the first data, everything remains stable, and nothing is happening," he added.

Belousov also said that the volume of stocks of essential goods in warehouses is enough for two weeks to a month.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov noted that retail's main task during the period of exacerbation remained supplying the population with essential goods without interruption, and the ministry recommended not limiting sales of socially significant goods.

"We have directed our colleagues not to resort to restricting sales. We already have experience in this area. There was no need for this, as our chains have constantly been holding multi-day stocks of socially significant goods since the beginning of the pandemic," Manturov reported.

Manturov also said that alternative routes for delivering goods to retail chains have been developed. "We have developed routes for delivering products from large distribution centers with the regions. Moreover, I would like to note the effective operations on the ground. We quickly built up alternative logistics during road closures. The new routes were, in fact, a safety net, though we did not have to use them," Manturov said.

All of the operations of the sectors subordinate to the Industry and Trade Ministry have currently been transferred to regular mode, Manturov emphasized.