Market Records Rise in Prices of Food

Results of the first half of August showed a rise in prices in the food market, even by commodity of the off-season. Prices rose by 2.55%, while at the end of July, prices rose by only 0.10%. In June, prices remained stable, and in May there was a reduction of 3.6%. At the end of August, prices could rise. In 2014, in August, there was recorded growth of 12.5%, which experts explained with an increase in tariffs on fuel in December 2013, as well as the actions of the monopolists. In August 2012 and 2013 prices remained unchanged.

During the first half of August non-seasonal products mostly imported or depending on imports rose: sugar (+ 26.6%), butter (12.8%), corn oil (+ 18.3%), margarine (18.2 %), eggs (9%), flour of first grade (+ 18.2%), vermicelli (+ 13.3%), pasta (+ 6.2%), and cookies (+ 4.7%).

Among the local products associated with the seasonality the following ones rose: yogurt (+ 11.5%), cheese (+2%), potatoes (+ 33.3%), tomatoes (+ 60%), and cabbage (+ 16.6%).

Prices remained stable for beef and mutton, while the price of chicken slightly increased.

The monitoring involves only 30 main types of food included in the food basket

Appreciation of the imported foodstuffs, notes Turan, is clearly linked to the February devaluation of the manat, and another drop in oil prices can expect another wave of devaluations and further price increases, as well as the fall in purchasing power of the manat. Beginning in August, the trend of rising prices begins to confirm the forecast of the World Bank on the double-digit inflation in Azerbaijan this year.

But it is also to be noted that the prices of goods imported are artificially inflated by the monopolists, who have traditionally relied on excess profits. For example, a review of the world's wholesale prices for butter and sunflower oil, sugar and others shows the invalidity of their increasing in Azerbaijan. For example, butter cost $ 2.541 per kg on the exchange on 18 August, sunflower oil cost a little more than $ 1 per liter, and sugar cost around $ 0.33 / kg. The sharp increase in prices of imported goods can be avoided by reducing excessive incomes of the suppliers and fiscal authorities and optimization of the import and retail prices, according to Turan.