Shrinkflation turned on the green light: food packaging is decreasing, prices are rising

The Ministry of Industry and Trade did not support the initiative to indicate the cost of a kilogram or a liter on price tags

The Ministry of Industry and Trade opposed the law requiring prices for goods to be indicated per kilogram or liter. The department believes that there is no point in this, and the costs of manufacturers will increase. Meanwhile, it is essentially a legalized fraud. In order to save on production, not to frighten off buyers and not to attract the attention of regulatory authorities, the manufacturer has long been using a trick: it changes the volume of packaging, but leaves the same price. Meanwhile, experts are convinced that if the permissiveness of retailers and manufacturers is not limited, they will become completely insolent, starting to win back losses due to the collapse of the ruble by reducing the volume of goods in the package.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade gave a negative review to the draft law of the Vice-Speaker of the State Duma Boris Chernyshov, stating that in this case, an increase in production costs is inevitable, which manufacturers will definitely include in consumer prices. Previously, retailers spoke out against the idea of ​​”fair” price tags. The Association of Retail Companies (AKORT) believes that the adoption of the amendments will lead to a restructuring of operational processes and additional costs for recalculation and replacement of price tags. Market players also noted that retail chains already indicate the cost for 1 kg or 1 liter in cases where it is necessary, and does not overload the price tag with unnecessary information.

Meanwhile, any buyer knows: every year there is less milk, rice, flour and everything else in the packages. Despite this, manufacturers have not been banned from reducing the volume of goods in order to hide the price increase. There was even a new term – “shrinkflation”. Suppose we buy a pack of pasta for a certain price, out of habit considering that it is per kilogram, and then we are surprised to read on the package that there are 800 grams. Formally, no one deceived us, but in fact … Sellers continue to cash in on consumers and “push” a smaller amount of goods for the same money. Like, so the buyer will not guess that prices have risen.

But why is the Ministry of Industry and Trade opposed to providing truthful data on the cost of a product per rounded unit of weight or volume?

“Such a requirement is not entirely timely,” says Ivan Samoylenko, managing partner of B&C Agency. – The weakening of the ruble by 30% against the dollar and by more than 40% against the euro since the beginning of the year will lead to an increase in food inflation in the near future. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is taking a break in resolving the issue of food packaging.”

But not all experts share this view. According to the chairman of the board of the International Confederation of Consumer Societies (ConfOP) Dmitry Yanin, the position of the ministry actually coincides with the position of large retailers. It completely repeats what the sellers formulated several years ago.

“The argument that such changes will lead to an increase in the final cost of the goods is not true. We are not talking about the transition to new price tags. Additional information can be placed on the existing price tag, and the extra line is worth nothing. It’s like saying that a new printed line on a bus ticket will lead to an increase in the fare on public transport, ”the source of MK emphasizes.

According to Yanin, the Ministry of Industry and Trade echoes retail, because its task is not to ensure a reduction in household spending, but to meet the profitability indicators of large companies. “No one in their right mind would say that three additional digits on the price tag will provoke a rise in the price of packaged products. This is just an excuse and quite primitive. Unfortunately, neither the FAS nor Rospotrebnadzor have the proper powers in this area, and it is the Ministry of Industry and Trade that will form the government’s position,” the expert continues.

The ministry’s concerns are understandable. Surely, many consumers, to put it mildly, will be surprised to see sweets in terms of 5 thousand rubles per kg. A pack of 125 g for 400 rubles is not so scary. But only by multiplying this amount by 8 do you understand that a kilo of sweets is sold, conditionally, at the price of 10 kg of chicken! If the Russians receive such information, consumer demand is in danger of sinking. Naturally, the authorities do not really want to spoil the statistics, and manufacturers and sellers do not want to part with the possibility of easy money.

“I think it is not worth believing that the bill will be supported at further stages. Companies will continue to reduce the volume of packaged products in order to manage the growing costs of their production,” concludes Dmitry Yanin.