Overview
- Official data put average cucumber prices near 300 rubles per kilo since December, with extreme regional tags up to 1,061 rubles and levels now higher than bananas.
- The Federal Antimonopoly Service on Feb. 18 ordered major chains to submit detailed weekly purchase and sale data from Nov. 1 to Feb. 15 and signaled possible antitrust action.
- Parties including A Just Russia and the Communists propose caps on retail markups for staples as anger over food costs spreads on social media.
- Supermarkets in parts of Siberia are limiting per-customer cucumber purchases as retailers respond to price spikes.
- Broader price pressures follow a VAT hike to 22% and about 2.1% consumer inflation this year, while producers cite seasonality and Rosstat reports a weekly slowdown in cucumber price growth to 0.9% from 5.2%.