Food industry enterprises have warned of the emergence of a new reason for the increase in food prices in Russia – the rise in the cost of packaging, according to the newspaper “Kommersant”. Packaging suppliers explain what is happening by the rise in the price of polyethylene.
The publication has at its disposal a letter that Rusprodsoyuz sent to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). It says that since the end of 2020, union members have received warnings about a 10-15 percent increase in prices for plastic packaging. Suppliers, in turn, talk about a rise in the price of raw materials for its production: the price of polyethylene since last summer has grown by a third – up to 115 thousand rubles per ton. The FAS promised to check the information.
One of the market participants said that prices for packaging in the Pishche-Poly-Plast and Komus-Upakovka companies have increased by 10 percent since February 15. According to the President of the Russian Union of Bakers Alexei Lyapin, from the end of 2020 to the current moment, the cost of packaging has doubled. In his opinion, given the fact that raw materials make up 40-70 percent of the cost of finished packaging, it is impossible to avoid an increase.
Earlier, the analytical service FinExpertiza found that food prices in Russia increased by seven percent in January 2021 compared to the same period last year. The growth turned out to be a record in five years. Granted sugar (by 64 percent) and sunflower oil (by 26.2 percent), in respect of which the authorities introduced price regulation in December 2020, have especially noticeably added in prices.
Back in February, potatoes and carrots rose sharply in Russia. According to Rosstat, in the first five weeks of 2021, the average price of a kilogram of potatoes increased by 40 percent compared to the beginning of 2020 and reached 30.9 rubles. The price of carrots increased by 34 percent.