(Bloomberg) — Russia is taking steps to curb a spike in the price of potatoes, a vegetable ubiquitous in households throughout the country, as inflation continues to stoke worries for President Vladimir Putin’s economy.
Most Read from Bloomberg
The government authorized duty-free imports for as much as 150,000 tons of potatoes, according to a decree published on Friday. The import fees had been set at 5%.
Russia also is re-starting vegetable purchases from Egypt, the food-safety watchdog in Moscow said earlier this week, alongside plans to increase agricultural production.
Putin has said that inflation, which nearly topped 10% in 2024, is one of the few concerns he holds for Russia’s economy. The price of potatoes, a widely consumed vegetable in Russia, nearly doubled last year.
“Potatoes are among the goods that can be called enemies of price stability,” said Evgeny Suvorov, chief Russia economist at CentroCredit Bank.
As part of the effort to rein in a rise in food prices, the Agriculture Ministry said that the sowing area for potatoes will be increased by 2.3% in 2025. The ministry cited a smaller harvest of the vegetable as one of the reasons for the price spike.
Egypt, which is on average responsible for about half of Russia’s imports of potatoes, cut shipments last year in favor of other markets. This year, the African country started to ship potatoes to Russia earlier than in 2024, the Interfax news agency reported, citing the food-safety watchdog.
–With assistance from Artyom Danielyan.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.