Vegetable prices in Russia have increased because, according to the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, domestic reserves are running out and the country must currently rely solely on foreign purchases, reports EastFruit.
“At the moment, last year’s vegetable harvest has practically ended, and imported products from friendly countries are reaching store shelves, which determines market prices,” the agricultural ministry of country-aggressor explained.
The ministry added that this situation resulted from high demand and a poor harvest in 2024. This was the ministry’s response to the sharp price increase for borscht ingredients, writes The Moscow Times. Over the year, retail potato prices soared by 166.5%, while onions and white cabbage increased by 87.2% and 56.8% respectively. Beet prices rose by 11.9%, and tomatoes by 1.2%, according to Rosstat.
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The point about high demand for vegetables raises doubts among experts. According to EastFruit, suppliers reported a 10-20% decline in Russian imports despite poor harvest, suggesting that the demand could actually be lower than a year ago.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture does not see any particular problem with the current situation. The ministry noted that overall vegetable price growth is below the level of food inflation. The ministry also promised to reduce import dependence by increasing planted areas and expanding vegetable storage facilities, whose total capacity currently stands at 9.2 million tons, which is 147,000 tons more than the previous year.
At the end of April 2025, the average retail price of potatoes in Russia reached 84.7 rubles per kilogram, increasing by 27.9 rubles since the beginning of the year.
As of May 12, the average retail price of onions reached 72.3 rubles per kilogram, and white cabbage reached 75.2 rubles per kilogram. Declining yields were also cited as one of the reasons for the price increases. According to data from one analytical agency, cabbage harvests in the industrial vegetable sector decreased by 5.6% in 2024 (to 873,600 tons). Onion harvests fell to 1.12 million tons, decreasing by 0.7%.
