The Department of Trade and Consumer Protection of the Pavlodar Region has identified instances of unjustified price hikes on a number of socially significant food products (SSFPs). This was reported by the deputy head of the department, Nursulu Aubakirova.
According to the International News Agency "Kazinform", during the first five months of this year, the authority received 727 complaints from citizens — a 10% increase compared to the same period last year. The majority of complaints concerned the retail sector, household services, and e-commerce. As a result of the specialists' work, consumers were able to recover more than 66 million tenge.
During inspections, they found that some products were being sold with excessive markups. For example, cabbage was purchased at 100 tenge per kilogram and sold at 450 tenge — a markup of 350%. Department staff also identified cases of price inflation for:
- carrots — by 275%;
- potatoes — by 106%;
- onions — by 86%;
- buckwheat groats — by 52%;
- chicken meat — by 27%.
In total, in response to complaints from citizens and legal entities, specialists conducted 144 inspections of business activities. As a result, 64 entities were brought to administrative responsibility, and 88 orders were issued to eliminate violations.
Recall that in January, staff of the Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM) managed to achieve a reduction in the price of buckwheat, potatoes, carrots, sugar, eggs, and salt in 80 kindergartens in the Aktobe region. It was noted that in one of the region's preschool institutions, an entrepreneur was supplying buckwheat with a markup of over 500%.