ABOUT THE REASONS FOR THE GROWTH OF CONSUMER FOOD PRICES IN RUSSIA AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF THE RAPID GROWTH OF WORLD PRICES
The world food markets are still experiencing significant (rapid) price increases. Moreover, this phenomenon occurs with a stagnating global economy, rapid social stratification of the population and the ongoing Covid19 pandemic. The Composite World Food Price Index (CPI), calculated by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), has increased according to available data over the last year, from April 2020 to April 2021, by more than 30%. The leaders in the growth of world prices were such types of food as corn (an increase of 67%), soybeans (an increase of 70%), vegetable oil (an increase of 2 times), sugar (an increase of 60%). It is important to note that the rapid growth in world food prices is not decreasing at the present time (June-July 2021). It is known that in the previous three years (2017-2019), the world food market was extremely calm, the annual CPI fluctuations did not exceed 3%. In the course of the study, a comparative analysis of food prices, taking into account purchasing power parity (PPP), was carried out. The factors that significantly affect the level of prices in both external and internal markets of consumer food products have been established. The effective mechanisms for regulating prices in the external and internal food markets of the leading countries of the world have been identified, and their comparative analysis has been carried out. Proposals have been formulated to stabilize consumer prices in the domestic market of Russia. Keywords: inflation, world prices, consumer prices, food, agricultural products, domestic food market, agricultural industry, monopoly, competition, agricultural holdings, state regulation of prices.