Russian consumers are refusing to buy the most expensive types of meat, increasingly “tightening their belts” and switching to a mode of saving.
For January–September 2025, retail sales of beef decreased by 6% in natural terms, and lamb by 39%, reports “Kommersant” citing data from the analytical company Ntech. Russians are replacing expensive meat with cheap chicken: its sales increased by 4%. At the same time, the demand for pork remained unchanged.
Andrey Kucherov, director of the competence center at Reksoft Consulting in the agro-industrial complex, explains the situation by the rapid rise in prices. According to Rosstat data, during the war — from February 2022 to December 2025 — boneless beef rose in price by 58.5%, and lamb by 61.5%. At the end of last year, prices on shelves reached an average of 933 rubles per kg and 676 rubles per 1 kg, respectively.
Cheaper types of meat, such as poultry and pork, show an increase in consumption mainly due to their lower cost, explains Kucher (The Moscow Times).
