It was about a week ago, when we have been at a dinner at my girlfriends dad’s house. Her aunt told us then, that we should get some salt, because there seems to be a shortage of salt coming soon. I couldn’t believe that. Anything else would seem possible to me, but salt? A few days later we are shopping at Achuan, a large local shopping centre. We hear people talking about the salt crisis again and I am looking into the carts of other people. Yes, its true. People have 3-5 packages of salt in their shopping carts. It seems they are really afraid.
Back at home I start to do a little internet research about this subject and find out, that it is indeed a rumour. Some people seem to believe that Ukraine wants to get back on Russia in the gas dispute. After all about 40% of Russia’s salt comes from Ukraine. The rest is supplied by Belarus, Kazakhstan and other countries. The “salt fever� seems to be triggered by bad memories of Soviet times, when shortages of products were regular and you had to cue up in long lines to get into stores. MosNews brings it to the point: “…But people watch TV, learn that their neighbors rush to shops for salt and follow their example.�
The Times in the UK reports the following from the Tula region:
“In the central Tula region, where the official made his throwaway remark, people mobbed stores and markets, pushing salt prices up from 3 roubles per kilo to 60 roubles (£1.20).
Sergei Kuznetsov, head of Tula’s department of business and markets, said that the panic buyers were mostly elderly. “It’s mostly because of the collective memory from the war years, when salt was one of the things that was most scarce and most in demand,� he told The Times. “We were inundated with calls from old people who hadn’t even been in the stores. They didn’t see for themselves that there was not enough salt. They just panicked.� He said he did not know which official had made the remarks that prompted the crisis.
The panic spread to the surrounding areas over the course of last week and by the weekend had reached Moscow — despite reassurances from officials that warehouses were well stocked. At a supermarket on Dorogomilovsky Street in central Moscow, only expensive imported sea salt was left on the shelves.“
The article also reports that there is a salt shortage now (because people buy too much). Shelf’s in stores are empty and only expensive sea water salt is left. Interfax reports that stores in the Belgorod, Oryol, Kursk, Tambov and Kaluga regions have put NO SALT signs in their windows. In the meantime Ukraine doubled its salt supply to serve the increased demand.
Aleksander Zaturanov, the commercial director for Artemsol, Ukraine’s biggest salt producer, said in THE TIMES that his company had increased its supplies to Russia by 50 per cent. “Our position is that we must give as much as people want,� hesaid. “But at the same time, we understand that people cannot eat more than they eat, so what will they do with the salt? Of course, it’s always good when you can sell more, but chaos is never welcome.�
Russia’s PRAVDA is also reporting about the shortage, but makes a mass psychosis originated by elderly pensioners responsible. Pravda also explains that Russia is now in a regular market economy and that shortages are near to impossible. If one shop runs out of a good, the competitor is offering it and so on. That is true and that’s why I didn’t believe that story from the get go. In any case I would have been more concerned if this would have been about gas, oil or water.
The Ukrainian Kiev Post writes about the shortage as well, but not without a little political poking and a slight smile in their faces: “The conditions for a deficit simply do not exist,” Dmitry Yanin, head of the international confederation of consumer societies, said in an interview with The Associated Press. But Yanin suggests that the root of the salt shortage lies in the public’s conviction that - despite the much touted political and economic stability under President Vladimir Putin, every one looks out for his own interests. “Its a bad signal - if people are so sensitive to rumors it means they don’t believe in the authorities’ ability to solve such problems,” he said. “Trust is minimal.”
Well, word on the streets is, that by Wednesday the latest all shelf’s, even in the regions are filled up with salt again. But the incident shows you, how fragile Russia’s market economy is and that there is still a great lack of consumer trust in this economy. May it be, because of the past or the present politics. I leave that judgement up to you.
Links
http://mosnews.com/news/2006/02/16/saltfever.shtml
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2050122,00.html
http://english.pravda.ru/russia/economics/76194-1/
http://www.kyivpost.com/top/23931/