MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian government has agreed to stabilize prices with associations representing food producers, the agriculture minister said on Monday.
"We held talks with an association uniting large network companies and an association of food producers. They are ready to undertake commitments, as self-regulating organizations, to stabilize prices and rule out speculative deals," Alexei Gordeyev told journalists after a Cabinet conference.
"They are ready to agree to fix, or, as you say, freeze prices," he said.
Gordeyev said Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov had already instructed the relevant ministries, departments and governors to rectify situations where retailers priced similar products entirely differently. "This is disorder," Gordeyev said, adding that there was an unexplainable growth of unjustified price hikes on foodstuffs.
The agriculture minister also said the government was already taking specific measures to stabilize food prices, referring to customs and tariff regulations.
Gordeyev said earlier in the day that the Russian government would reduce import duty on milk and dairy products from 15% to 5% for six months. Timeframes for introducing the new import duties are currently being discussed.
Food price hikes have accelerated in Russia over the last few months, following trends on global food markets. According to Russia's State Statistics Service, the fastest growth in September was demonstrated by rapeseed and soybean oil prices (13.5%), pasteurized milk (9.4%), fermented milk products (7.9%) and curd (7.4%-7.5%).
