Problems and Directions of the Improvement of Price Relations in the Russian Agricultural Sector of Economy

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to assess the current state of prices and price relations in the agricultural sector of Russia. The authors analyzed the dynamics of prices of agricultural products, industrial products, food products, and processing industry, consumer prices in the period 2014–2018. The authors consider the cost structure of agricultural production, which is the basis of balanced price relationships. The study showed that the increase in prices of agricultural producers in recent years was significantly less than in other sectors of the economy. This leads to an increase in disproportions and to a decrease in the financial stability of agricultural producers. The most significant disproportions in price relations are formed in the sale of food products in retail trade. The study compares the average prices of agricultural producers in Russia with the prices of producers in the countries leading in terms of exports of these products in the world. Such a comparison allows to determine that crop production (wheat and sunflower seeds) has a price competitiveness in the world market. The authors provide a number of proposals to improve price relations in the agricultural sector of Russia. The proposals are aimed at the balanced development of agriculture: in the sphere of relations between agricultural producers and resource-providing industries, in the field of production, as well as in the field of ensuring the balance of supply and demand.