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Trade ministry denies rumors of increase in retail prices of sugar, vegetable oil

The trade ministry denies rumors of a drastic increase in the retail prices of sugar and vegetable oil in Belarus.

“There are no plans to raise the prices of sugar and sunflower oil soon,” Lyubow Yazepchyk, a departmental head at the ministry, told BelaPAN on Friday.

According to her, there are enough reserves to supply the demand for these products. “Rumors of of a coming increase in prices have caused a panic demand and people have rushed to buy large amounts of sugar and vegetable oil,” the official said.

“Even if the country’s sugar refineries stop production, the available reserves can last for 10 months,” she stressed, adding that there were enough vegetable oil stocks for eight weeks.

Meanwhile, anonymous sources at retail stores say that sunflower and other vegetable oils will increase in price from the current minimum of 6,600 rubels to between 9,000 and 11,000 rubels per half-liter bottle after the stores’ stock is sold.

The current retail price of packaged sugar, 3,600 rubels ($1.2) per kilogram, is rumored to be raised to 8,000 rubels.