DUSHANBE, August 4, 2010, Asia-Plus — Increasing international prices have led to increase in prices of a number of basic foods products in Tajikistan as many of basic food products are delivered to the country from abroad, Yelena Rahimova, a spokesperson for the Antimonopoly Agency, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to her, imports account for more than 50 percent of the country’s domestic food market. “Thus, wheat, flour, vegetable oil, sugar, meat and milk products are mainly imported from other countries,” she said.
“Over the first six months of this year, Tajikistan has imported 50,300 tons of sugar at the rate of US$510.00 per ton, which is 400 tons, or 0.8 percent, more than in the same period of last year. An average price of one kilogram of sugar at Dushanbe’s bazaars rose from 3.48 somoni on July 1, 2009 to 4.43 somoni on July 1, 2010 (27.2 percent rise) with similar price rises in other parts of the country,” Rahimova said, noting that Russia, Iran, Belarus, and Kazakhstan provide the bulk of Tajikistan’s sugar imports.
She added that recent spike in gasoline prices has led to increase in the prices of local basic food products. “The Antimonopoly Agency has set up a working group to curb further price rises at the country’s food market,” Rahimova noted.
