Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction explains why meat prices are on the rise 

In the report, specialists have explained the main reasons for the increase in meat prices.

“The analysis of inflation for September shows that the main cause of inflation was the growth in prices for food commodities, which in turn was caused by the increase in the prices of meat and oil, bakery products and eggs, as well as the seasonal increase in the prices of horticultural products,” the document reads.

The main reasons for the increase in meat prices are:

- seasonal decrease in cattle feed reserves: in particular, cottonseed meal, husks and coarse meal, which also led to an increase in their exchange prices by 17, 21 and 27 percent, respectively;

- reduction in cattle imports from Kazakhstan due to export restrictions. For example, only 25,000 heads of cattle and 12,500 heads of small cattle were imported in eight months of 2020. For comparison, in 2019, these figures were 146,000 and 258,000 respectively;

- increased demand for meat products due to the revival of the catering industry as a result of the lifting of lockdown restrictions from mid-August 2020.

“The increase in meat prices was not entirely dependent on external factors, but was probably due to weak internal price adjustment. This, in turn, was due to the underdevelopment of the cattle feed base for ensuring an adequate level of supply of meat products, despite the modest increase of the production level,” the report concludes.