UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 3, 2015. Suppliers increased their building materials prices by 10% to 15% as the high season is about to begin, Oboronsnabsbyt’s press service reports.

‘No dramatic price increases are to be expected, but building and finishing materials, especially imported ones, will probably grow a bit more expensive, despite the stronger ruble and a more stable exchange rate. The price of Russian building materials is also rising in rough proportion to the foreign currency exchange rate, even though this makes no economic sense,’ says Oboronsnabsbyt Director-General and manager of DOKER Retail Park Igor Sukhanov.

President of MAN Estate Center Nikolai Savin agrees the growing Russian building materials prices are hardly justified. He says manufacturers raised their prices by 10% to 15% despite the unimpressive sales figures Yekaterinburg stores had to face in the first three months of the year. In fact, some stores selling things like tiles or wallpaper even asked warehouses and landlords for rental discounts because of a considerable drop in sales.