Sand castle: 47 regions have agreed with businesses to curb sugar prices
In 47 Russian regions, the authorities have concluded agreements with businesses to curb sugar prices, the FAS told Izvestia. Its value has increased by 22% since the beginning of the year, especially noticeably in August. The antimonopoly service also noted that the largest retail chains decided to set a maximum margin of 5-10% on sugar as a socially significant product. The Ministry of Agriculture recognizes the price increase, but considers the problem to be seasonal and expects them to decrease when processors have a new beet harvest.
Why sugar prices are rising
Agreements that contribute to the stabilization of sugar prices have been concluded in 47 regions of the country, the FAS told Izvestia. This is how the agency commented on the editorial board's request for measures taken by the service to reduce the cost of sugar, which is one of the socially important goods.
"The FAS regularly analyzes prices for socially important essential foodstuffs, including sugar, and continues to interact with the largest federal retail chains on the development of responsible pricing practices to increase the availability of such goods to citizens," the agency's press service noted.
Agreements between regional authorities and market participants are an effective mechanism for price control, the FAS believes. The possibility of signing such documents is provided for by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 662, adopted in April 2023. Agreements may record agreements to reduce prices, not to raise them for a period, or to set marginal trade margins.
In addition, as the FAS press service informed Izvestia, at present, at the suggestion of the agency, the X5, Magnit, Auchan, Atak, Dixy, Bristol and Maria Ra retail chains comply with voluntary obligations to limit up to 5-10% margins on a separate nomenclature of sugar.
The Service also notes the effectiveness of Russian sugar exchange trading, which has reached more than 90 thousand tons since the beginning of the year.
"Based on their results and on the basis of data provided by market participants on concluded over-the-counter contracts, stock indices for sugar are formed. This provides an opportunity for both businesses and regulators to receive objective price information on the sugar market on an ongoing basis," the FAS said.
Since the beginning of 2026, retail sugar prices, according to Rosstat, have increased by more than 22%, while last year, over the same period, the increase was only 0.04%. If we compare year to year, then in August 2025 by August 2024, commodity prices decreased by 3.5%, and this year, on the contrary, they increased by almost 10%.
The same trend is observed in the global market. The cost of October sugar futures increased by almost 4% on August 18 alone and reached 17.56 cents per pound (about 14.9 rubles per kilogram). During trading, the indicator reached 17.58 cents, which was the highest value since May 22, 2025.
The Ministry of Agriculture told Izvestia that Russia does not import raw sugar and white sugar, meaning that price changes on the world market do not affect domestic conditions.
At the same time, the price increase was recognized there, but the reasons for it are seen solely in seasonality.
"The demand for sugar from the population and food industry traditionally increases in the summer," the ministry said. — As the volume of sugar beet processing of the new crop increases, the supply will increase, which will traditionally affect lower prices.
They also drew attention to the fact that, despite the increase in retail prices, they have decreased by 9% in wholesale since the beginning of August. At the same time, there is no sugar shortage in Russia, the ministry noted.
— The level of self-sufficiency in sugar last year was 104.9%, with the threshold value of the Food Security Doctrine of 90%, — the Ministry of Agriculture clarified. — Sugar beet harvest reached 48.9 million tons, which is 8.5% higher than in 2024. This made it possible to maintain stable processing volumes: sugar production last year exceeded 6.3 million tons.
According to the ministry, such volumes are sufficient both to cover domestic demand and to realize export potential. In the first half of this year, sugar production increased by 15.5%.
When to expect lower sugar prices
The Association of Omnichannel and Retail Companies (ACORT), which unites the country's largest retail chains, reported that price increases have been recorded since June due to compensation for rising costs by manufacturers.
— Retail chains, for their part, keep sugar prices down during the high season. During the first half of 2026, the average margin on sugar of the "first price" was negative, at minus 1%, and in the first two weeks of July — minus 1.6%. Currently, the minimum cost of "first price" sugar in large retail chains is 75.2 rubles per kilogram," explained Stanislav Bogdanov, chairman of ACORT.
He also noted that July and August are peak periods of sugar consumption due to the conservation season, and the volume of new crops is just beginning to arrive for processing and does not yet fully affect the price, so sugar prices usually go down by autumn.
Izvestia sent requests to the largest retail chains asking them to comment on the current situation.
Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Association of Food Manufacturers and Suppliers (Rusprodsoyuz) Dmitry Leonov, in a conversation with Izvestia, also drew attention to the multidirectional dynamics of prices. According to him, they are decreasing in wholesale, but they are growing in retail and amounted to 82 rubles per kg at the beginning of August. However, he believes that the reason is that not all sugar processing plants are running.
Their mass launch usually takes place in September: different enterprises have their own deadlines for readiness, besides, it takes time to harvest the entire crop.
— As soon as the mass shipment of sugar from the new crop begins, prices can be adjusted, — predicts Dmitry Leonov.
The Sugar Union confirmed the information that most of the sugar beet processing plants are not working yet.
— Today, 15 of the 63 sugar factories already produce sugar with a total capacity of about 13 thousand tons of sugar per day with a daily consumption of 15 thousand tons in the country. The remaining plants will start production within a month, and daily production will reach 50,000 tons of sugar," said Alexander Bodin, the head of the association.
He also believes that the dynamics of wholesale prices is seasonal and is determined by both the cost of production and the cost of storing and financing stocks. During the year, the volatility of sugar prices is within the framework of inflation.
Former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Leonid Kholod believes that this year's price increase is also affected by expensive logistics, rising producer costs and a technological pause in the downtime of sugar factories.
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