| JRL HOME | SUPPORT | SUBSCRIBE | RESEARCH & ANALYTICAL SUPPLEMENT | |
Old Saint Basil's Cathedral in MoscowJohnson's Russia List title and scenes of Saint Petersburg
Excerpts from the JRL E-Mail Community :: Founded and Edited by David Johnson
#15 - JRL 2007-214 - JRL Home
More Than Half Russians Cannot Afford Basic Daily Food Products - Survey

MOSCOW. Oct 11 (Interfax) - The majority of Russians think that the cost of daily food products has increased recently and it affects the material positions of their families, a recent piece of sociological research says.

Responding to questions put by the Public Opinion Fund survey, 94% Russians say that prices for daily food products increased during the last month, 85% say the prices for most products have gone up, and 9% say prices have increased for only for some products.

Some 13% of Russians say that the growth in prices for basic food products is caused by increasing wages and pensions; 12% by state policy; 10% by higher fuel, oil, and electric power prices; 8% by overall inflation; 7% by the arbitrariness of businessmen and collusion between monopolies; 4% by problems in agriculture or a bad harvest.

According to the survey, 78% polled say the food prices increases are having a significant impact on the material situation in their families, and 13% say the influence is insignificant.

Some 64% respondents say they cannot afford some daily food products because they are too expensive, while 34% say they can afford to buy these products.

Some 77% say the price of milk especially has increased in the last month, 67% say the biggest increase was the price of bread, 62% say egg prices have soared especially, 50% say meat has become more expensive compared to other products, 39%, say the biggest increase was the price of flour, 32% say the biggest increase was the price of sugar, and 30% say fresh fruit has become especially expensive compared to other necessities.

Some 43% Russians say that it is domestic products that have been getting relatively more expensive, 40% say that imported and domestic food have been getting equally expensive. 1% of those polled say that the imported food products have been getting more expensive compared to domestic produce.

Some 25% Russians said that they now purchase food in advance, in order to compensate for the permanent growth of food prices. 74% of those polled say that they continue to buy basic food necessities daily.

The survey was carried out among 1,500 residents in 100 locations of 44 regions, territories and republics. The statistical error margin does not exceed 3.6%.