100 days after abolition of state regulation of prices for certain categories of socially important goods, they rose on average by 4-40%. This is evidenced by the dynamics of prices for products by regions calculated by the state statistics service on January 10. Recall, for socially important goods include meat, bones, butter, milk and low-fat dairy products, cereals, eggs etc And the national audit office in their value, the Cabinet is temporarily canceled from October 1, 2016, for three months, but then it was decided not to return. At the same time, few prices have changed the traditional set, the cost of which the state was not controlled before.
REGIONS. As you can see from the infographic, is still the most expensive meat in the Dnipropetrovsk region — UAH 81/kg of pork, which is almost 10 UAH higher than the national average, and 15 UAH higher than in Cherkasy — the cheapest meat in the region. Eggs and milk more often now stand in the Donetsk region (100 days ago I was in Odessa and Nikolaev, respectively). Much different from the average cost of wheat bread: best loaf, as before, in Kharkiv region — of 8.71 UAH/kg (for 8, 18 UAH), and most of all you need to pay for it in Transcarpathia — of 12.37 UAH/kg (11,82 was UAH). As you can see, the difference in price of bread in the West and East of the country is almost 4 UAH/kg, or 42%. For the last quarter of last year, the leaders of the high cost of groceries, borabora and potatoes left Kiev earlier in the capital was only the most expensive in the country flour of 9.33 UAH/kg (9,76 now). Now a kilo of potatoes in the capital is almost 70% more than in the Ternopil region, where the “second bread” the cheapest and one-third higher than the national average. But a set of vegetables for borsch in Kiev, though became the most expensive in Ukraine — of 20.06 UAH/kg, but at 100 days, it fell by more than UAH compared to the previous record holder — the Donetsk’s borscht.
EXPERTS. The opinions of experts concerning that, did the state regulation on the growth of prices, apart. So, the President Ukranalittsentra Alexander Ohrimenko believes that: “This segment is small and the main role was played by demand and supply, and “reefs” of regulation producers and the trade have learned to work around it. A classic example is milk with fat content of 2.5%, the price of which previously regulated, and milk with a fat content of 2.6%, which it was free, so milk with 2.5% fat almost did not make. Eggs for the winter are traditionally more expensive, because it decreases the supply and demand stable, the meat slightly increased in price due to the long holidays.”
But the Director of the Ukrainian Association of trade networks suppliers Oleksiy Doroshenko told us that government regulation can return, as the Cabinet wants to have leverage on unscrupulous producers: “If the prices sharply, not smoothly, as of now, will go up, the government may at any time to return to state regulation. The Prime Minister did not say to what period they extended its abolition. Yet for the last 100 days of all rose in price, primarily due to accelerated year-end inflation from 8% to 12% in three months”.
Experts: where will the price will come out at the end of January
Both experts say that in near future we can hardly expect lower prices for products can be cheaper just to spring the eggs. “Milk has been underrated, and milk production is reduced, buckwheat, sugar and flour has virtually no konkurencii among the major suppliers, so the cheaper these products will not be, although enough of them. Can freeze at the level of 75-80 UAH/kg meat prices due to low purchasing power of the population. Will gradually rise in price of bread from rising labor and energy costs,” says Okhrimenko. And Doroshenko believes that much will depend on the dollar: “the price of all products includes the cost of fuel, fertilizer, spare parts for equipment, all we have are mainly imported. The turning point for prices will be the end of January, when it will become clear what will be the dollar exchange rate: 28 UAH/$, or higher.”
