Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASHGABAT1048
2009-08-19 03:27:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:
TURKMENISTAN: FOOD PRICES REMAIN HIGH
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001048
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN
ANKARA FOR AGRICULTURAL COUNSELLOR
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD PGOV SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: FOOD PRICES REMAIN HIGH
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001048
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN
ANKARA FOR AGRICULTURAL COUNSELLOR
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD PGOV SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: FOOD PRICES REMAIN HIGH
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public
Internet.
2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Despite the government's attempts to
reduce food prices, including short-lived price caps for
meat, eggs and some other basic food staples, prices for
basic food items have not changed since April and
remained steadily high. Overall, people's expenditures
for food have increased due to unprecedented high prices
for locally supplied fruit and vegetables. Currently,
families are forced to spend more of their budget for
food and cut back on clothing and other items. END
SUMMARY.
3. (SBU) A recent price check in local markets revealed
that prices for basic food items, including flour, rice,
meat, chicken, eggs, butter, vegetable oil, sugar, milk
and cheese, have not changed and remain steadily high.
For example, a kilo of beef is available for 60,000 manat
($4),and a whole chicken is available for 90,000 manat
($6). In March of this year, following the president's
order, the Ministry of Trade imposed price caps for meat
and other basic food items. While this action resulted
in a temporary price decrease, the lower prices were
accompanied by lower quality products. After a couple
weeks, the government stopped enforcing the price caps,
and both prices and quality rose to their previous
levels. A local resident who works for a government
agency and earns three million manat (approximately $210)
a month reported that her salary was not enough to cover
her basic food needs.
4. (SBU) Ashgabat residents reported that prices for
locally supplied fruit and vegetables this summer were
unprecedentedly high. For example, a kilo of tomatoes
and potatoes is available for 8,000 manat (approximately
60 cents),carrots are available for 15,000 manat
(approximately one dollar),and cabbage for 10,000 manat
(approximately 70 cents). A kilo of peaches is available
for 25,000 manat ($1.70),grapes and apples are available
for 20,000 manat ($1.40). An Ashgabat resident said that
last summer, prices for such produce were half the
current price. A local source claimed that catering of
the new government's luxurious hotels in the Avaza
tourist zone on the Caspian Sea and the opening of a new
produce supermarket in Turkmenbashi City (former
Krasnovodsk),as well as commercial exports to Kazakhstan
and Russia, resulted in short supply of fruit and
vegetables in Ashgabat, which subsequently led to the
significant increase in their prices.
5. (SBU) A source in Lebap Province, which is the major
supplier of fruit in the country, told Pol/Econ local
staff member that many large state-owned orchards were
destroyed under President Niyazov in order to free land
for wheat and cotton. In Dashoguz Province, the
country's main supplier of vegetables, farmers are
experiencing a serious shortage of irrigation water. A
presidential decree in March of 2008 announced a short-
term loan program for farmers to purchase the necessary
inputs for their harvest. However, a farmer from Ahal
said that the bank's bureaucracy and corruption made the
president's offer unattractive for farmers.
6. (SBU) COMMENT: In order to stimulate more fruit and
vegetable growing to meet domestic demand and commercial
exports, the government needs to offer farmers free land,
provide irrigation water and develop an effective
agricultural extension service. Without such steps, low
prices for fresh produce will be a thing of the past.
END COMMENT.
ASHGABAT 00001048 002 OF 002
MILES
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN
ANKARA FOR AGRICULTURAL COUNSELLOR
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD PGOV SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: FOOD PRICES REMAIN HIGH
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public
Internet.
2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Despite the government's attempts to
reduce food prices, including short-lived price caps for
meat, eggs and some other basic food staples, prices for
basic food items have not changed since April and
remained steadily high. Overall, people's expenditures
for food have increased due to unprecedented high prices
for locally supplied fruit and vegetables. Currently,
families are forced to spend more of their budget for
food and cut back on clothing and other items. END
SUMMARY.
3. (SBU) A recent price check in local markets revealed
that prices for basic food items, including flour, rice,
meat, chicken, eggs, butter, vegetable oil, sugar, milk
and cheese, have not changed and remain steadily high.
For example, a kilo of beef is available for 60,000 manat
($4),and a whole chicken is available for 90,000 manat
($6). In March of this year, following the president's
order, the Ministry of Trade imposed price caps for meat
and other basic food items. While this action resulted
in a temporary price decrease, the lower prices were
accompanied by lower quality products. After a couple
weeks, the government stopped enforcing the price caps,
and both prices and quality rose to their previous
levels. A local resident who works for a government
agency and earns three million manat (approximately $210)
a month reported that her salary was not enough to cover
her basic food needs.
4. (SBU) Ashgabat residents reported that prices for
locally supplied fruit and vegetables this summer were
unprecedentedly high. For example, a kilo of tomatoes
and potatoes is available for 8,000 manat (approximately
60 cents),carrots are available for 15,000 manat
(approximately one dollar),and cabbage for 10,000 manat
(approximately 70 cents). A kilo of peaches is available
for 25,000 manat ($1.70),grapes and apples are available
for 20,000 manat ($1.40). An Ashgabat resident said that
last summer, prices for such produce were half the
current price. A local source claimed that catering of
the new government's luxurious hotels in the Avaza
tourist zone on the Caspian Sea and the opening of a new
produce supermarket in Turkmenbashi City (former
Krasnovodsk),as well as commercial exports to Kazakhstan
and Russia, resulted in short supply of fruit and
vegetables in Ashgabat, which subsequently led to the
significant increase in their prices.
5. (SBU) A source in Lebap Province, which is the major
supplier of fruit in the country, told Pol/Econ local
staff member that many large state-owned orchards were
destroyed under President Niyazov in order to free land
for wheat and cotton. In Dashoguz Province, the
country's main supplier of vegetables, farmers are
experiencing a serious shortage of irrigation water. A
presidential decree in March of 2008 announced a short-
term loan program for farmers to purchase the necessary
inputs for their harvest. However, a farmer from Ahal
said that the bank's bureaucracy and corruption made the
president's offer unattractive for farmers.
6. (SBU) COMMENT: In order to stimulate more fruit and
vegetable growing to meet domestic demand and commercial
exports, the government needs to offer farmers free land,
provide irrigation water and develop an effective
agricultural extension service. Without such steps, low
prices for fresh produce will be a thing of the past.
END COMMENT.
ASHGABAT 00001048 002 OF 002
MILES