By the New Year holidays, beef in Russia will rise in price by at least 7-10%, reports Parliamentary Gazeta, citing representatives of the National Union of Producers of this type of meat.
Market participants announced a steady decline in production over at least the last ten years. “The number of cattle is decreasing. Since the beginning of the 2010s, there has not been a single year when it increased or at least remained at the same level,” said Roman Kostyuk, general director of the National Union of Beef Producers.
He also claims that beef production is “the only industry that has failed to close or even seriously reduce” its dependence on imports.
“We still import from 280 to 320 thousand tons of imported beef per year, which is at least 20% of total production,” Kostyuk said.
According to him, another reason for the projected rise in prices is the “inverted ratio” between dairy and meat production in Russia: for one beef cow there are six dairy cows, while – for comparison – in the rest of the world there are three to five beef cows for one dairy cow.
The head of the Russian Consumer Union, Pyotr Shelishch, agreeing with the forecast about the rise in price of beef, called the rate of increase in prices for it “not prohibitive” and cited Rosstat data that since the beginning of 2023, beef has risen in price “by only 5.9%.” At the same time, according to the expert, pork prices increased by 14.4%, and chicken meat by 29.7%.
“Those for whom beef is too expensive can switch to pork, and if pork is too expensive, they can switch to chicken. But they will buy chicken as long as it remains the cheapest type of meat,” Shelishch outlined the situation.
As RTVI reported with reference to Rosstat data, in 2023 some products in Russia have risen in price sharply: prices for cabbage, oranges and cucumbers have risen the most across the country – by 74%, 72% and 47%, respectively, and in some regions prices for these and other products exceeded 100%.
Chicken meat has recently risen in price so much that the Russian President even drew attention to it: at a meeting with the government, Vladimir Putin said that since the beginning of the year, chicken meat has increased in price by more than 27%, and demanded an explanation for this. According to Rosstat, from January to September 2023, chicken prices increased by 25.4% – from 176.25 rubles to 221.02 rubles per kilogram, but in some regions the increase was significantly higher.
