‘A new rise in wholesale oil prices is going to make agricultural produce more expensive,’ the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Agriculture and Food Anatoly Feoktistov said to UrBC.

‘All the fuel is bought at market prices, although the regional farms do have a little reserve meant for the sowing season,’ he said. ‘What is more, they have received 92 million RUR from the federal budget this year against only 48 million in 2006.’

According to Vedomosti newspaper, wholesale fuel prices have gone up 8% to 20% within three weeks of April.