20 Sep Cost of goods in Russia
What a rip off! How come this is so expensive ? And this, this Bananas ‘shut the front door!’ when those bananas went up? And to this price?… Are we out of banANANAS now, struggling to import them from whatever land — Ecuador is most likely to be –, or its a privilege to buy this fruit now? Exotic and non-affordable to low-income folks.
Now the “grain deal” … nah not the one that worried the whole world to ship the grain from Ukraine and Russia, but the cost on grain in grocery stores! Cereals and oatmeal are not so cheap anymore. This is just bonkers… If to think of: fields are full of grain, but oat flakes on average could might cost you almost like a good cheese now? And bread constantly raising its cost by 5 or 10 %.
Found some of those fields in Siberia (summer),while I was there, searching for shrooms…mushrooms, mushrooms!
Ah, would be foolish to let it fold the deal about eggs, which in 2024 year was a street-bench talk in all hoods across the land — from Far East to central Russia — went through and still on the table for some rookie-trickie manipulations, starting from New Year Hollidays to Easter and other religious Hollidays when most of us folks do bake using many eggs.
Ahh, Alcohol is another story, racking on debates: What brands followed EU sanctions? How some did stay and now asking more *glimmer for bottles? How local goods replaced it? And did they?
All cost raising could be cliché explained waving a brand name, or production cost ( package that made of an exported material and more nonsense that consumer not thinking of and why would he?) , or wages (employees to pay).
Whoopsy, might went too far raving on this topic but this is just a tip of a mountain — gives you an idea but skipping the most of its content — a brief note like a brochure to a tourist what to see and where to stop for selfies. Don’t get me wrong but grocery stores and alcohol shelves is truly prestige background to a picture now.
After reading this you might think ‘Oh MY, this one likes to complain’, yeah I might got on this habit but only as I used to see this random cost jumping, and sloppy thoughts on us buyers while changing a bar code sticker, like ‘eh, they will buy it anyway’. Sometimes it’s a mystery — “sometimes” or “mostly” — , why suddenly prices just went up at this %. It’s always hard, at first, to justify the reason why this price tag on it.
Now let’s compare how the shelves look like in Russia, in France, and a bit in USA. Yea, surely could compare the # of items or quality, but still I lean more on the cost.
Grocery stores that I crusade daily in Russia ( St. Petersburg): Perekrestok, Pyatorochka, Magnit, Lenta, Spar, Shedrui, Sem’ shagof.
*glimmer — money , term used in poker.
CHOCOLATE
SUGAR to start with…Yeah there are many chocolate brands that left after 2022 (a lot gone from Belgium) but there are some to finely replace it , including those who stayed in the market ...French, Swiss, and German brands are still rolling here. Got more expensive tho in about ( some by 50%, or by 100%, or by 200% )
#1 Milka ( 89 to 350 Rubles =$ ,98 to $ 3,83), Ritter Sport ( 129 to 450 Rubles = $ 1,42 to $ 4,94 ) are the most popular.
#2 Alpen Gold is also among the leading chocolate brands but mostly because its cheaper than others and known for its love to mix flavours ( M&M’s, peanut butter, to more jelly fruity filling).
Russian chocolate can be premium (90 to 70% cacao with nuts or not ; (Kommunarka, Krasnui Oktyabr‘) and can be more of a standard (milk chocolate) would be somewhere in between #2 to #3 place.
And not forgetting about Kinder Eggs (actually more bought on New Years, like a tradition now) and chocolate bars with their yummy texture…
Recently start importing chocolate from Iran.
The chocolate boxes were and are well sold in Russia. Raffaello is the classic choice for any kind of venue (from a simple gift to a wedding’s sweet corner on the menu). And more chocolaty if to go with Ferrero Rocher collection.
Russian chocolate boxes are more about chocolate& crashed nuts filling, or + milky mouse ( ptich’e moloko), or + marmalade, or + waffle, or + liquor.
Anything with praline or marzipan filling is belong to foreign brands or a copy&paste formula borrowed from Italy and Swiss chocolate. But need to be more specific and sure to get more in depth with it later on.
Cereals are too short of a choice compare to what they have in Europe, UK, and in the US.
VEGIE & FRUIT
Tomatos cost about 139 per kg ( $1,52 per kg) on sales and thats the cheapest for a good tomato. Usually the price tag stick to 250 Rubles and higher. I always get this reds on sales, as they are many different grocery stores and at leats in one they would be cheap to buy.
1 kg = 2,205 lbs
1 lbs = 0,45 kg
The shelves of veggies: champions, chanterelles (lisichki in Rus), salads ( rukola, coriander, spring onion, and more greens),packed for those who is not into picking one by one in the bucket.
I had a favourite salad type “mâche” that was imported from France and since 2022 its no longer sells in Russia 🙁 Sad
The fruit price tags got me into drama queen status, ugh with price jumping up and down : depends on the season and current struggle with import, well as they say. Most year round fruit on the shelves are apples, pears, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, and bananas.
Oranges are not that good at summer time ( June – September) but they still keep the price high like during colder season. (189 Rubles per kg = $ 2,07)
The worst time to pick oranges would be the end of Spring ( April and May) to my experience they all dry and hard to peel. Grenades and kiwis is the option during that time before end of May when sweet cherries, peaches, apricots , grapes and more fill up the shelves.
Russians do LOVE GRAPES , white and dark. Would say, white is more “out of sale” — less sweet. From July to March — in good quality — try to find a solid one, after March, and somewhen in November is also a big chance of a bin-toss cond. Popular and quick to go bad — thus expensive. ( 250 Rubles ($ 2,74) or 399 Rubles per kg = $ 4,37 is a usual price for grapes)
Bananas! Ouch… i think i have mentioned already on this privileged-folks fruit. 119 Rubles per kg ($ 1,30) is so far like a basic ‘start point’ for price to go up . Only few times it went down ( by 20 % – 50 % ) and more likely for the need to sell it before going brown-down as not much buyers pick them up.
Before 2022 it costed about 70 to 80 Rubles ($ ,77 – $ , 88) on average.
MEAT & FISH
Now whats on the menu for meat/chicken/fish rows.
The prices went up on Chicken roughly by 30 – 40 % or so ( at the beg. of 2024). People are still buying it. Why? Nah not because their wages are high and can cover that added 40% — got richer and no need to complain type of thing? More simpler — red meat and fish also catching up to this “cost rising”. So now, all the red meat lovers and seafood fans are forced to basket on a bird meat more; ‘zip up your wallet go for the cheapest choice!’
Grocery shop prices: (food market might give fresher but more expensive) :
Chicken breast (for 500 g) — 250 to 370 Rubles ( $ 2,80 to $ 4)
Fish Salmon (for 1 kg) — 699 to 1000 Rubles ( $7,60 to $10,90)
No Comments