MOSCOW, July 18 The cost of beef and lamb in Russia may increase due to a seasonal increase in demand during the barbecue period, but overall growth meat prices will not exceed the inflation rate, and chicken is now becoming even cheaper, said Anton Trenin, an expert at the ACRA corporate ratings group.
“On average, over a long horizon, the increase in prices for meat and poultry does not outpace the rate of inflation. However, for certain types of meat products, prices may increase due to a seasonal increase in demand during the barbecue season. In general, for meat products, in my opinion, there will be “We will continue to see a relatively restrained increase in prices (within 10% — at the level of general inflation). The balancing factor is the increase in production in livestock farms against the backdrop of the continuing growth in annual meat consumption in Russia,” he said. 
Trenin emphasized that the prices for lamb have increased the most recently — plus 19% over six months. In Russia, according to him, less of this meat is produced than other types, which creates a certain shortage in the domestic market, while the export of lamb increased significantly last year — largely due to the entry into the Iranian market, where such a product is highly in demand.
“In turn, in Russia, chicken remains the most affordable type of meat product. Over the past 6 months, prices for it have decreased slightly (by 2.5%). This trend can be interpreted as a rollback of prices, which increased by 16.2% in 2023. This is due to the high level of production and a wide range of chicken products on the market,” the expert concluded.
According to Rosstat, in June of this year, compared to May, prices for beef, lamb, turkey meat increased by 0.6-0.9%, for chicken meat — by 0.4%. At the same time, during the week from July 9 to July 15, prices for pork decreased by 0.15%, for lamb — by 0.22%, for chicken meat — by 0.04%, and for beef, on the contrary, increased by 0. 06%.