Now, the deal will go ahead as scheduled in December and January. Yuri Chumakov, deputy general director of Sucden Kerry, one of the world's largest raw sugar traders, told Interfax that the government needed to scrap value-added taxes for raw sugar, keep up import duties for white sugar, and impose license for exports in order to support its sugar industry. Chumakov accused the government of letting the sugar industry slide, bringing refineries to the brink of bankruptcy. Russia's low timber prices have made it virtually impossible to sell timber for a profit. Three large timber wholesalers have a corner on the regional market which is worth about 5bn Finnish marks a year.
Small wholesalers can expect to hold a large market share only in very restricted geographic areas.
The cost of an assortment of 19 staples grew in the same period by 5.1 percent to 69,600 rubles. In Moscow, the basket costs 82,300 rubles. Public-sector farms produced 34.6 million tons of grain with yields of 2.86 tons per hectare, compared with 44.6 million tons and 3.37 tons per hectare in 1993. The Ministry cited wheat production at 13.8 million tons with average yields of 3.26 tons per hectare. Last year, wheat production was reported at 21.2 million tons and a yield per hectare at 3.35.