KZBlog

Having just posted on importing cattle to solve some of the problems of the meat industry, I was perhaps particularly attentive to meat prices today at the supermarket. I was shocked that any kind of butchered meat, including stir-fry strips/beef stroganoff, gulash/stew meat, and steaks, now cost around 1800 tenge per kilogram (US$ 5.64 per pound). What is shocking is that only a few months ago, they cost 1400 tenge, a 30% increase. Equally shocking has been the growth in prices of what we might call lower-cost meat products, such as whole chickens or large unbutchered hunks of meat. Sausages (which contain flour, eggs, and presumably a lot of nasty meat by-products) are also significantly more expensive than they used to be.

I realize that there is a world food price crisis right now, but every since I arrived here 5 years ago there has been inflation in food prices at a rate visible to the consumer.

The government is taking measures to combat inflation in food prices (one participant at the meeting with Massimov told me that it was reported to the Prime Minister that potatoes from Pavlodar cost more in Pavlodar itself than they do in Almaty!). But they are mainly targeting food producers, and the food producers blame the stores. But of course the smaller stores and sellers at markets and bazaars feel that they can’t cut into their profits anymore.

Personally, I suspect that the speed with which prices grow indicates that it is the supermarkets that are to blame. Even if a producer or distributor hiked its prices, it would take time for that to trickle down to the consumer. However I’m not an economist. I do hope the government will conduct some detailed research into where the mark-ups on food is coming from.

The Ministry of Agriculture is also proposing government sales of food, for the state to stockpile food and sell it off at below-market prices. However this seems like a stop-gap measure at best. For it to be sustainable, the government would have to buy food at the same price they are selling it at, and that would ultimately hurt the food producers.

Frankly, it seems to me that inefficiency is a major problem. I was amazed today to watch a woman at the supermarket cutting up price tag signs from a sheet of A4 paper. And early on a weekend morning, when the store was practically empty, there were nevertheless 3 security guards standing at the cashiers, ready to watch over every purchase, if one happened to occur. Not to mention, all the counter women who are busy wrapping and labeling cheese and salads and meat-but won’t stop for 5 seconds to help a customer. In a lot of cases, the cheese or meat or whatever is already packaged, and labeled, but the customer still has to ask someone to give it to them because it’s closed away in a case.

If I were a businessman, I would certainly introduce the idea of shifts, hourly wages, and more self-service to Kazakhstani businesses.

And yes, I often don’t buy things because I have to wait for help. I also don’t buy a lot of meat anymore. Ironically, Kazakhstan has taught me to be a vegetarian.