It is planned that this instrument will help regulate sugar prices and prevent their explosive growth.
The Intervention Fund works according to a very simple scheme:
If the prices are low, it makes a purchase, helping manufacturers with sales.
At high prices, it conducts massive sales, knocking down market quotes.
All this is required in order to prevent a strong rise in sugar prices.
And it is very noticeable: when compared with last July, the price for sugar has risen by 41.34%, since December 2020 — by 3.19%.
And all this at the very moment when the incomes of Russians have already dropped noticeably due to the pandemic.
It is planned that the intervention fund will be created early next year and will purchase at least 500 thousand tons of sugar. This is the amount that Russians eat in a month.
Sugar beet harvest is alarming
In a situation of a general post-pandemic crisis and a significant rise in sugar prices over the past year, a record sugar beet harvest would now come in handy. But alas — you can’t count on him.
The main cause of the problems is weather conditions.
This season in the south and center of Russia there were heavy rains, in the Volga region — drought. Therefore, it is expected that the sugar beet harvest in the Central Federal District will decrease by at least 27%, and in the Volga Federal District — by 2.2 times.
According to Dmitry Rylko, director general of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies , this year farmers can only count on an average «harvest».
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in the season 2021-2022. 40 million tons of sugar beets will be harvested and 6 million tons of sugar produced.
When Russians consume 0.5 million tons per month — exactly for a year, not a single gram of surplus. Therefore, it is not necessary to count on export.
Moreover, at the moment Russia is importing sugar, having canceled import duties for the EAEU countries.
Currently, Kazakhstan has received the right to import 134 thousand tons of sugar, Kyrgyzstan — 40 thousand, Armenia — 2 thousand.
The total volume of imported sugar amounted to 350 thousand tons.
At the same time, all imported goods must go exclusively to Russian enterprises that use sugar in their work. But by no means to the countries neighboring Russia.
Subsidies to producers should be an additional measure to support low sugar prices.
The government expects that all these measures should stabilize the situation — to help both citizens and sugar factories.
146 such enterprises are currently registered in Russia, but 11 of them have already closed, 11 are closed, 3 are going bankrupt. This means that support will indeed be very timely.
