‘The growing crop prices must have been brought about by the increased global demand. The U.S. and Brazil, for instance, are now working on some new alcohol-based fuel, and alcohol is normally derived from crops. Then, it takes more money than before to buy fuel and deliver the goods to the customer, so this influences the price of the end product as well,’ Vice Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev announced at a press conference on July 25, 2007.

‘The Soviet farmers used to collect 45 million tons of crops a year, on average, whereas the Russian ones collected 78 million tons of crops last year. This means we are fully capable of providing enough for the country and raise our export figures at the same time. Europe has experienced a major draught this year, which means Russian crops are going to enjoy enormous demand, so the prices are bound to soar. One shouldn’t worry, however, that all the crops will be exported, as we have taken steps to prevent this from happening,’ Sverdlovsk Region’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sergey Latskov said.