There are 97 retail markets operating in Chelyabinsk Region at the moment, with 73 of them pertaining to the so-called universal market category. Eleven cities and towns have no markets whatsoever, and local farmers have only been provided with 1,817 trade stalls, which only comes to 2% of the total number of stalls. Only five cities offer preferential terms to local farmers, these are Chelyabinsk, Yuzhnouralsk, Ust-Katav, Karabash, and Satkinksiy district, Chelyabinsk Region Minister of Economic Development Yuri Klepov says.

‘An inspection conducted on August 1-7, 2007 revealed that only 31 out of 97 markets actually met the federal law requirements. Two perfect ones are the markets based in Miass and Snezhinsk,’ the Minister says.

‘68% of the markets got no nameplates or information stands and never got the stalls arrangements approved of by the federal authorities. These problems have to be dealt with by August 20, 2007; if our municipalities pay enough attention to this, they’ll be able to get everything fixed within a fortnight,’ Mr. Klepov said.