Imported products disappear from shops

Belarusians had better forget about persimmon, mandarins and salmon.

Viktar Marhelau, an owner of food stores and co-head of the Republican Confederation of Businessmen, says when persimmon, mandarins, tomatoes, salmon and other imported products will appear in shops again.

A photo from Andrei Kabanou's Facebook account

Many Belarusians have noticed that fruit, vegetables, fish and grains disappeared from shops.

“This is due to the Ministry of Trade's decision on freezing prices,” Viktar Marhelau says. “Importers didn't bring anything in the first half of January because they would have suffered huge losses.”

On January 15, the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Economy published the recommended pricing rules, according to which prices of imported products were unfrozen and pegged to the dollar, Salidarnasts reports.

Useful cabbage at the Korona supermarket. A photo from Ivan Bondarau's Instagram account

According to recommendations, prices of imported products that were bought after December 18 can be raised by maximum 1% of the change in the ruble's exchange rate against the currency of the contract at the date of registration reduced by 5%. Can this measure help return imported products to shops?

“On the one hand, the rules are rather vague. No one knows for sure how to set prices taking into account return on sales,” Viktar Marhelau says. “Importers have divided. Some think they should risk, but others say they will wait. As of today, we can say about a partial recovery of the market.

Those engaged in long-term sales are in an especially difficult situation. The scheme proposed by the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Economy does not suggest the exchange rate in three or six months, when sellers will sell their goods and will have to buy foreign currency to pay their suppliers. It's obvious that business will suffer loses if it follows the Ministry's scheme. So, some importers prefer not to import goods in Belarus.

Retail chains were allowed to take goods from suppliers without raising markups. But it's unclear how to check if they set the right price or not.

The situation is ambiguous. We cannot say the problem is solved, but some conditions have been eased.”

According to Viktar Marhelau, he cooperates with five importers, two of which do not work currently.

He forecasts that problems with imported products will disappear soon, but prices will grow. However, people should get used to the deficit of imported goods until the Belarusian ruble hits the bottom and prices are allowed to float freely.

“The prime minister said prices would be freed, but didn't say when it would happen, because nobody knows the bottom of the Belarusian ruble,” he says.