Social food prices decline for the fourth week in a row in Kazakhstan

The situation with prices for socially important food products for a week was discussed on Saturday, 22 June, at a meeting in the Government chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin.

The downward trend in prices for a group of 10 goods continues: buckwheat groats - 0.9%, sunflower oil - 0.5%, cabbage - 0.4%, beef, salt and sugar - 0.3%, rice - 0.2%, cones, cottage cheese and flour - 0.1%. As noted by First Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Aizhan Bizhanova, prices decreased in 8 regions, of which the most significant - in Ұlytau (0.8%), Aktobe (0.6%) and Atyrau (0.5%). In general, during the week, the decrease in the average price index for social food products was 0.1 per cent. This indicator is fixed for the fourth week in a row. For the month, the dynamics amounted to 0.3%.

Vice-Minister of Agriculture Yerbol Taszhurekov announced the progress of contracting of early harvest in the regions. Three megacities - Astana, Almaty, Shymkent - have already started to conclude direct contracts with agricultural producers from seven regions of the country to supply vegetables at stable prices in the off-season.

«Astana has already concluded forward contracts for 15 thousand tonnes of vegetables: potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots. Shymkent - for 7.5 thousand tonnes, Almaty - for 16 thousand tonnes. Deliveries are planned for June-July, September-April. Additional forward contracts will also be concluded for the supply of autumn harvest», — informed the Vice-Minister.

Yerbol Taszhurekov also noted that the regions need to comply with the terms and conditions of financing outlined in the rules for the implementation of mechanisms to stabilise prices of socially important food products, including the requirement to allocate 70% of funding to agricultural producers and processing enterprises.