The current situation with prices for socially important food products and their availability was considered at a meeting in the Government chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin.

Since the beginning of the year, the growth of the average price index for social food products was 0.3%, which is 3.4% points lower compared to the same period of 2023. 

For nine products there is a decrease in prices in the range of 0.1-2.8%: these are flour, buckwheat groats, sunflower oil, butter, kefir, cottage cheese, cabbage, sugar and eggs. At the same time, during the off-season and the arrival of the early harvest of vegetables, statistics shows a slight increase in prices for onions, potatoes and carrots. 

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 76.4 thousand tonnes of vegetables of last year's harvest remain in the regions' stock funds: 45.5 thousand tonnes of potatoes, 11.2 thousand tonnes of carrots, 10.4 thousand tonnes of onions, 9.1 thousand tonnes of cabbage. To stabilise vegetable prices before the mass arrival of early harvest from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and southern regions of Kazakhstan, Serik Zhumangarin instructed to sell all remnants of last year's harvest in a short time. 

According to First Deputy Minister of Trade and Integration Aizhan Bizhanova, with the support of the Centre for Trade Policy Development "Qaztrade", 12 regions have signed contracts for the supply of imported vegetables with state enterprises from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In addition, akimats have already contracted with producers of Turkestan, Zhambyl and Almaty regions to supply 29.6 thousand tonnes of early vegetables. 

Special attention at the meeting was paid to the state of vegetable storages and warehouses with foodstuffs in the regions affected by floods. According to the Akimats, currently no warehouse and their contents have not suffered from high water.

#Serik Zhumangarin #Socially Important Food Products