High prices of potatoes caused by monopolization

After raising 3 December 2013 the fuel prices in Azerbaijan by the Tariff Board, rose all types of food , including agricultural products. According to experts, the maximum price on local agricultural products has grown by a third not accidentally - the price of diesel fuel has risen by the same proportion from 45 to 60 kopecks per liter. So, onions on the 8 Kilometer Market accessible to all groups of buyers was worth not 60 but 80 kopecks ($ 1.1 ) , carrots - not 70 kopecks but 1 manat ( $ 1.3 ), cabbage not 40 but 60 kopecks ( $ 0.75 ), while the price has remained the same on the greens, but their bunches became thinner also by a third.

However, people involved in the agricultural business daily said that the increase in tariffs was an artificial reason for the import monopolies . In this regard, the reporter of Turan followed the chain of inflationary prices on the local and imported potatoes (the most popular product after wheat) - from Gadabay to Baku, and revealed that the rise in the "second bread" is not associated with rates of fuel, buit with uncontrolled monopoly. As of 10-12 January 2014 from the district center of Gadabay to the Eighth Kilometer market accessible to all categories of the population in Baku the price of potatoes from Gadabay, Shamkir, Tovuz and Dashkesan was single - 1 - 1.2 manats , on some Baku markets - up to 1.5 - 1.8 manats. Imported potatoes were worth 67 (2 manat for 3 kg ) to 80 kopecks per kilo.

According to Bakhtiyar Bayramov, trucker from Ganja, almost all products, except for some greenhouse plants, are delivered to the capital from the regions. If prior to the introduction of new tariffs for every 100 km his laden KAMAZ required 18 manat treated for 40 liters of diesel, now it costs 24 manat (the norm for the unloaded laden KamAZ 5410 is 25 liters of diesel fuel). Typically, drivers take money from customers both ways, so, according to the contract, many of them bring not 10, but all 15 or more tons. However, the rise in price concerns perishable goods - cabbages, tomatoes or cucumbers, for example. Last potatoes from fields in the mentioned areas were taken to storage in mid-October - directly on the sites the villagers gave it at 50 kopecks, and the farmsteads - at 60 - it could not be sold at higher prices, and the rules are not set by the farmers.

It turns out that the driver spends on the road from Gadabay (450 km from Baku) 216 manat ( AZN 24 per 100 of the total 900 km) - that is, travel costs per kilogram of product cost to the customer only 0.46 kopecks at 10 tons of cargo and even less. given the additional load of the vehicle. As you can see, it is absurdity to search causes of the rise in potatoe prices in increasing tariffs on fuel.

One not named officially privateer from the Arkh Dam village 8 km from the district center Gadabay (he is afraid of pressure after he was forcibly seized a remote site with a gold mine) said that small farmers are mainly unable to rent space for vegetable stores, which leads to large merchants merchanting. Monopolists provide uniform purchase prices in order to buy up local produce, and sometimes even prohibit "unauthorized " harvest at a bargain price with farmsteads, and especially from the fields, he complains. Everything must be controlled - in the past year, many small farmers "burned" because the prices of potatoes artificially fell by only 5 kopecks, and this reduced production in 2013.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the annual rate of consumption is about 129 kg of potatoes, the World Health Organization has calculated the bar at a higher level - 140 kg per person per year and in Azerbaijan (http://president-az.com/article / az/1047/21) it is 73 kg officially. It turns out that 688.4 thousand tons per year are sold, with nearly 972,000 tons of official production and 76.6 thousand tons of imports. That is , Azerbaijan still exports potatoes, but to whom and for what purpose , if the purchase prices with all the neighbors are much lower than here.

Retailers in markets and other facilities do not know the reasons for the price increase by the wholesalers. Their case is "small", said a trader Abbas Abbasov from the village of Bakihanov Sabunchu - they will take the goods at the wholesale market, for however much it was worth, and resell it to the public. But wholesalers of the market Meyvyali are sympathetic to the problem, knowing the names of "curators" behind the supply of goods from Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Turkey and Pakistan. Earlier in the championship were cheap (10 to 15 kopecks delivered to the customs) potatoes from Iran, now this source thinned due to the Persian crisis and the ban on large-capacity transportation, they say. In this market, Georgian, Russian and Turkish goods are worth 60 to 70 kopecks or $ 0.75-0.9 per kilogram, despite the fact that the Russian sites (http://www.agroru.com/spros/kartofel-opt/ct - 67453 -p0.htm) dazzle requests from Azerbaijani businessmen (1 kg of gross premium quality table potatoes with the accompanying papers worth 15 rubles, or $ 0.45). Officially the potatoes they sell to canteens are also imported, in mainly forage varieties. According to one of the leading wholesalers, this inexhaustible source of profit and imports roughly corresponds to local resources, despite the statements of representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Statistics Committee of overproduction of local products. As early as July 23 last year, when most of the crop was still in the ground, the Ministry published a figure of about 1 million tons grown potatoes (105 kg per inhabitant) for the needs of 400 thousand tons. The year-end statistics also confirmed the presence of local production at 992.7 thousand tons with an average yield of 15.26 ton per hectare. Interestingly, the State Statistics Committee from year to year increases quality indicators of potatoes - if in 2012 on 65.8 thousand hectares were cultivated about 968 tons, this year on 65.3 thousand hectares were grown 992.7 thousand tons .

If this is true, then how much is imported? According to the expert - agrarian Vahid Maharramov, the dominance of imported products is due to the lack of serious examination. Into Azerbaijan there are imported fodder varieties with low taste, of a technical grade, but not for the production of alcohol and various extruded products. A very low price for this type of product greatly causes an immense profit stream.

According to the State Customs Committee, last year imported were 76.6 thousand tons of potatoes. Wholesalers in Meyvyali argue that this figure is an underestimate and meets quarterly strip trades only for the city of Baku. But there is still half a million population of Ganja, the Lankaran region with densely populated settlements and other peripherals, where people also consume cheaper imported products.

As for local potatoes, Vahid Maharramov said that the figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and those of the State Statistics are not grounded just because in 2013 in Shamkir, Tovuz and Gadabay ( main cultivation areas) the potato moth caused serious damage to the producers.

We contacted the State Service for Antimonopoly Policy and Consumer Protection under the Ministry of Economy and Industry at E-mail: office@consumer.gov.az and by phone (+99412) 498 15 01 and 498 15 04. The first phone is always busy, while the second said that the press officer is on maternity leave. The department chief Shaheen Naghiyev reported that such requests are met by the press service of the Ministry on the phone (+99412) 493 88 67 .

Since there was no clear answer from there, the agency decided to send a formal request to the Ministry at the address: Baku, U. Hajibeyov Street, 40, and the Antimonopoly Service at the address: Baku, AZ1011, Yasamal district, Hasan bey Zardabi Avenue, 88A . We hope that this information will also be an official announcement to these organizations about the manifestations of monopoly . - 17D-