Head of the Russian Federation Federal Customs Service Andrei Emelyanov suggested cancelling import duties imposed on primary commodities until the end of 2007. He believes this is going to expand the range of goods available as well as make prices go down, E-Craft reports.

In the meantime, essential food prices keep growing. This growth mainly involved vegetable oil (13.5%), pasteurized milk (9.4%), dairy products (7.9%), and cottage cheese (7.4%-7.5%). The government is trying to handle the problem through freezing of prices and decreasing the import duties (these dropped from 15% to 5% on October 17, 2007).

Most experts don’t see this as an effective policy; moreover, it can even make Russian producers less competitive, whereas the prices are likely to remain the same.