Ukraine's Cabinet to regulate prices of 10 food staples

Ukrainian Minister for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture Ihor Petrashko has said the Cabinet of Ministers plans to introduce state regulation of prices of 10 food staples to ensure food security in the country amid the coronavirus quarantine.

"We are planning and elaborating the introduction of a softer regulatory tool [for prices]. At the moment, these are 10 food staples that are essential for each person or household, including flour, sugar, pasta, milk, eggs, bread, poultry, creamery butter, and buckwheat," he said at a briefing on April 15 after a government meeting.

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Petrashko says there has been a positive food price trend, while suppliers "have taken a fair approach in pricing" over the recent ten days. According to the minister, the government is working daily with distributors and stores' managers to ensure that food prices remain affordable.

The official added that the government had managed to avoid a shortage of food, despite the restrictive measures introduced amid the coronavirus quarantine.

"We've prevented a shortage of foodstuff, despite the introduction of quarantine restrictions and a ban on the operation of markets. All goods are in stock," he said.

As UNIAN reported, Petrashko earlier said there would be no food price hikes in the country ahead of Orthodox Easter holidays.

On April 9, Ukrainian supermarket chains started to reduce the mark-up on essential goods.

Earlier, the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) recorded a rise in retail prices of food in certain Ukrainian regions amid the COVID-19 quarantine. Since early March, in some regions, prices of buckwheat had increased by more than 50%, while those of millet and sugar had grown by 24% and 16%, respectively. After that, the AMCU launched investigations into Ukrainian retail chains' antitrust activity.