OREANDA-NEWS  The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has found no evidence of price collusion among butter producers in Russia. Their absence was announced by the head of the department, Maxim Shaskolsky, quoted by Interfax.

According to the representative of the service, antimonopoly measures will be taken if any violations can be found during the inspections. However, at the moment, the FAS cannot assume that any of the hundreds of manufacturers in the country have specifically concluded an anti-competitive agreement.

"I must say that there is an increase in cost, there are economic factors that have a direct impact on the price," explained the price increase Shaskolsky.

During the direct line, combined with the annual press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that he was aware of rising butter prices in some regions of the country. He cited an increase in consumption as the reason for the record rise in prices — Russians began to buy more meat and milk, but food production is not growing at the same pace.

In early December 2024, the Federal Antimonopoly Service announced the start of inspections in a number of regions of dairy producers, including butter, for unjustified price increases. Seven companies from Moscow, Omsk, Izhevsk, Barnaul, Vologda and Sverdlovsk regions came under suspicion. Possible anticompetitive agreements aimed at setting or maintaining high prices have become the subject of inspections.