Russian companies halt food shipments as economic collapse accelerates
by: J. D. Heyes
NaturalNews.com
Friday, January 02, 2015
As ugly as the current collapsing economy in Russia is already, it might be about to get a whole lot uglier — and much more dangerous, both for average Russians and the world.
Up to this point, most of the world’s and media’s focus has been on the economics of the Russian currency collapse, which has been fed largely by a rapid decline in oil prices (fully half of Russia’s GDP is dependent upon energy sales) and Western-led sanctions for Moscow’s military aggression in Crimea and Ukraine. Also, many geopolitical analysts have been keeping an eye on Russian President Vladimir Putin, and have tried to predict what he might do.
But, as Zero Hedge — a financial news website — has noted, most of the economic fallout has impacted the country’s wealthy and elite, as there is virtually no middle class there.
But that may be about ready to change:
[A]s Russia’s Vedomosti reports, citing vegetable producer Belaya Dacha, juice maker Sady Pridoniya and others, Russian suppliers are suspending food shipments to stores because of unpredictable FX movements.
The Vedomosti website further notes that food retailers are at the mercy of suppliers because of the dramatic volatility of the country’s currency, the ruble, whose worth is tumbling as devaluation continues daily. As such, suppliers simply cannot “plan their activities in the current environment,” according to a Google Translate version of the story.
Halting food shipments is liable to worsen an already volatile situation
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