The retailers' initiative was a response to the proposals of state authorities to provide the population with food at affordable prices.
Voluntary self-restriction will affect four groups of socially important goods:
✅ dairy products;
✅ bakery products;
✅ sugar;
✅ borsch set vegetables.
O'Kay LLC and Tander JSC are imposing restrictions from March 1, 2022, Auchan Retail from March 3, 2022. These retailers were the first to inform Russia's FAS of their readiness to assume the relevant obligations.
To inform customers, retailers plan to highlight products with limited mark-ups on store shelves with appropriate price holders or special price tags labeled "social goods".
Within the framework of the assignment of the Government of the Russian Federation FAS of Russia, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia have developed a mechanism for limiting retail networks' mark-ups on certain types of socially important products.
According to the Service, limitation of trade markups on socially important products will increase the availability of food products for citizens. At the same time, the agency stresses that the adoption of commitments by retail networks to limit the level of markups is voluntary in nature.
FAS also instructed territorial administrations to tighten control over prices on socially important commodity markets:
✅ to continue continuous monitoring of pricing of socially important food products with regard to the entire commodity supply chain - from producer to retail chains for signs of violations of antimonopoly legislation;
✅ inform the central apparatus of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia of all changes on those markets (price increases, supply reductions, restrictions on free movement of goods, etc.);
✅ strengthen interaction with federal and regional executive authorities on the functioning of these markets.
The instruction was given to ensure the effective functioning of the relevant markets and to increase the price availability of goods.
Source: FAS
