Izvestia informs that the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) recorded a decrease in prices for a set of essential food products in August this year.

The minimum set of food products includes meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, bread, vegetables, apples, cereals, tea, sweets, sugar and salt - total 33 items.

According to Rosstat, the cost of a minimum set of food products in August on average in Russia amounted to 3839.9 rubles and compared to the previous month decreased by 5.6%. It is noted that the set cheaper the second month in a row. As a result of July, it cost 4066.8 rubles - 3.9% less than in June. At the same time since the beginning of the year, the set has risen in price by 4.1%.

The Ministry of Agriculture told the newspaper that it was the reason to reduce the cost of the consumer basket.

The department said: "The main contribution to the reduction in the value of the conditional set of food products in recent months is the fall in prices for certain types of fruits and vegetables, due to the introduction of new produce on the market". The Ministry of Agriculture added that also the high saturation of the markets made it possible to reduce prices for meat, cereals, sugar, dairy products.