Меню
The Ministry is aimed at implementing the state policy on the development of domestic trade, monitoring prices for socially important food products, organizing and conducting individual international exhibitions and providing public services, implementing the state policy in the field of commodity exchanges, as well as implementing the state policy on the development and implementation of e-Commerce.
According to weekly statistics, as of March 25, 2021, prices for eggs of the 1st category in the regions of the country range from 340 tenge to 485 tenge per dozen. The price growth at the beginning of the year is 11.9%, the press service of the ministry reports.
Recall that the list of socially significant goods, the prices of which can be regulated by the state, includes only eggs of category 1.
The main reasons for the increase in prices are the reduction in egg production in 2020 due to the fall in 2020 due to avian flu by 8.4%. According to the Association of Egg Producers of Kazakhstan, the death rate was 2.6 million laying hens. The second reason for the increase in prices is the rise in the price of feed (including feed grain). For the year, the growth in the cost of feed exceeded 54.4%.
In order to prevent further price increases in the regions, memoranda are concluded between egg-producing companies and retail facilities (stores, retail chains) on direct deliveries of eggs to the shelves and ensuring a fixed sale price. Similar work is carried out by akimats on other socially significant goods.
For reference:
In total, 12,658 memoranda were signed between 1,472 manufacturers of NWFP and 11,186 retail facilities in the country.
In addition, to curb the growth of feed prices, work is underway to create a permanent feed grain fund on the basis of JSC "NC "Food Corporation". This will reduce the cost of egg production.
These and other measures to curb the growth of prices for socially important goods are provided for by a special Roadmap developed by the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition.
As a result of the operational measures taken by the Roadmap, despite the holidays, when essential products traditionally become more expensive, it was possible to contain the price increase.
During the holiday week (from March 16 to March 25, 2021), prices for socially significant eggs decreased by 0.2%.
At the same time, for the previous week (from March 9 to March 16, 2021), the price increase for eggs of the 1st category was only 0.1%.
The Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, together with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan, has developed a Roadmap for price stabilization.
The roadmap includes the following measures: inspections and compliance, trade measures, increased production and support for enterprises, as well as legislative changes.
The first direction is "Checks and compliance". Today, there is a significant increase in food prices. In order to prevent unjustified price increases, there is a need to strengthen control by the antimonopoly authority and akimats, the press service of the department reports. The competence of the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan is to establish the facts of price collusions of dominant business entities and to prevent such violations, if they are detected. In turn, the akimats are given the competence to monitor compliance with the maximum prices for NWTP.
The roadmap provides for the adoption of an algorithm for assigning inspections for small businesses, which will allow akimats, fiscal and antimonopoly authorities to carry out all the necessary control measures.
The second direction is "Trade measures". One of the most effective mechanisms for price restraint is the establishment of marginal prices in the regions. So, for sunflower oil and eggs, almost all regions have exceeded the threshold prices. Akimats should set maximum prices. The Ministry of Trade and Integration, in turn, proposes to set maximum prices for these products.
The second current mechanism is the "reverse scheme",
i.e. the provision of preferential loans to retail chains. As part of the turnover scheme, goods are sold from the shelves of retail chains at prices below market prices by an average of 15-20%. The Ministry of Trade and Integration proposes to expand the financing of the revolving scheme from the current 21.9 billion tenge to 50 billion tenge. The Ministry of Trade and Integration also proposes to set quotas for the export of goods, in particular for steers and rams. Since due to the high export of live cattle and MRS to Uzbekistan, there is a great risk of an increase in beef prices.
The third measure is to increase production and support enterprises. Under the support of agricultural producers, we mean subsidies. It provides for an increase in subsidies, a revision of the subsidy criteria, as well as compensation for the reimbursement of part of the costs of railway transportation, the allocation of socially significant goods from the reserve of food corporations for their further sale in retail facilities, as well as fixing electricity tariffs, since today one of the main costs of producers of NWPT is comuslugi.
In addition, the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan proposes to reorient the stabilization funds for the purchase of import-dependent goods, since external prices are shifted to domestic ones and give a high price increase. This is noticeable in sugar and buckwheat. Due to the increase in world prices, the cost of these goods in the domestic market has increased.
The fourth direction includes legislative changes. Thus, when forming stabilization funds and concluding forward contracts of the SEC with producers and suppliers of socially significant goods, the issue related to the lengthy procedure for conducting public procurement remains relevant, which is reflected in the Roadmap.
According to the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, an important mechanism is forecasting, without forecasting the volume of production, export/import, acreage, the Ministry of Trade and Integration will not be able to predict the cost of food products. The introduction of the forecasting institute will make it possible to take appropriate measures in advance to prevent price increases, redirect goods from regions where there is an oversupply to deficit ones, and thereby restrain prices.
The Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, together with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan, has developed a Roadmap for price stabilization, Minister of Trade and Integration Bakhyt Sultanov said at a Government meeting on March 11, 2021. In this regard, the Ministry of Trade and a number of CSOs are forced to use administrative levers to offset all the consequences. For this purpose, it is necessary to exercise control on the part of the state.
One of the tools to curb the growth of the cost of socially important food products (NWT) is the introduction of marginal prices.
Currently, the NWT list includes 19 products: flour, bread, cones, eggs, buckwheat, rice, sugar, sunflower and butter, some types of meat (beef, chicken), dairy products (milk, kefir, cottage cheese), vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage) and salt.
Limit prices are introduced by local executive bodies. Akimats calculate and approve the price for each product from the list of NWT in the region. In the future, the compliance of the approved price with the actual price in stores is also controlled by the akimats.
In case of exceeding the limit price, administrative liability is provided for trade entities. So, if such a fact is detected, the fine is 100 MCI, if repeated-200 MCI. Administrative fines are also imposed by local executive bodies.
In turn, the MIT coordinates the state authorities in the issue of pricing for NWTP in the regions.
At the same time, MIT introduced the size of the maximum trade mark-up on NWPT: the seller's margin should not exceed 15% of the manufacturer's selling price or the wholesale supplier's purchase price.
In order to promptly respond to violations of the rules of the maximum trade mark-up, maximum prices, or to identify cases of unjustified overestimation of prices for socially important food products, the Ministry of Trade and Integration constantly monitors prices in retail facilities in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
One of the most important channels for obtaining timely and reliable information is the cashback service Dosmart.kz: every citizen of Kazakhstan can send a photo of the receipt for the purchase of food products and receive up to 1% cashback to the mobile phone account. The accumulated information is sent to the MIT, which gives us the opportunity to report the facts of price increases to the relevant akimat for action.
Consumers, in case of detection of the fact of increase in prices for socially significant food products, can also apply to the local executive body.
In order to stabilize prices and develop systematic measures to prevent sharp price spikes, the MIT, together with interested government agencies, has developed a Roadmap. The measures envisaged are aimed at strengthening the control of state bodies over market participants, improving existing mechanisms, increasing production and supporting enterprises, and legislative changes.