National & World Ag News Headlines Drought Still Driving Russian Food Prices Up USAgNet - 08/27/2010 Prices of basic foodstuffs like buckwheat and flour have soared in Russia over the past month as the effects of its worst ever drought hit supplies, statistics showed Wednesday. Inflation in Russia was 0.2 percent for the week 17-23 August, considerably higher than the figure before the drought and the third week in a row that prices have risen by this amount, the state statistics office said. Most alarmingly, the price of Russian staple buckwheat -- enjoyed by generations for breakfast or as an accompaniment to meat -- rose a very sharp 8.6 percent in the space of the week. Flour prices rose 3.3 percent, while milk was up 1.3 percent. The price of bread, a crucial component of the Russian diet which is consumed with almost every meal, increased 0.9 percent. The drought, caused by the hottest summer in Russia on record, destroyed one quarter of the country's crops and prompted the government to slap a highly controversial ban on grain exports to protect domestic supplies. But consumers have already seen buckwheat and other goods disappearing from the shelves as demand outstrips supply, stoking inflation. The government, nervous of the price rises causing social discontent, has already warned that it will clamp down on any merchants seeking to profit from the situation unfairly. The federal anti-monopoly service said it has strengthened its controls on food markets and opened 25 probes into suspected cases of price abuse in August alone. It said bread prices could rise by up to 15 percent by the beginning of September while milk in some regions had already gone up by 18 percent. Before the drought, Russia was the world's number three exporter of wheat and its ban on grain exports drove global wheat prices to two year highs. The government said Tuesday that inflation this year would now be higher than the previous estimate of 6.0-7.0 percent due to the drought. Send this article to a friend Other National Headlines Nation's Corn Planting in Full Gear Last Week April Milk Production Slightly Higher Than Year-Ago ADM Execs: Company to Soon Have $1 Billion in Savings China Rallies Poultry Industry After Bird Flu Concerns Syngenta Opens New Advanced Crop Lab Wisconsin Raw Milk Trial Begins in Sauk County Coalition to Introduce Sugar Amendment to Senate Farm Bill Copyright © 2013 - USAgNet.com. All Rights Reserved.