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The Moscow basket
Each week, our correspondent visits the same shop to buy five of the staple items found in a typical Moscow shopping basket.
The price rises and falls will be tracked and contribute to the World Food Price Index.
- Eggs (10)
- Potatoes (1kg)
- Milk (carton)
- Bread (loaf)
- Beef (1kg)
James Rodgers in Moscow writes:
Food prices in Russia have rocketed over the last twelve months. Basics such as bread and milk have been among the highest climbers - so the poorest have been hit hardest. In late 2007, in the run up to parliamentary and Presidential elections, the government even secured an agreement with food producers to freeze the prices of "socially important" foodstuffs.
Around 40 per cent of Russian food is imported - including much of its meat - so the rouble's recent fall against foreign currencies has also been a factor.
There is an important historical context to all this. The Bolsheviks promised "Peace, Bread and Land" to the hungry masses of revolutionary Russia. But the present increases bring to mind much more recent experiences. In the 1990's, the massive inflation which came with the end of decades of state-controlled prices caused widespread hardship and resentment.
The price-freeze introduced at the outset of the recent election season suggested the authorities were determined to avoid a repetition of that. But with inflation running at around 15 per cent, the cost of food here in Russia looks certain to continue to rise.
The graph
