Abkhazian mandarins now twice as expensive in Russia
returned to shop shelves, but they cost twice as much as they used
to, writes Angela Drujinina.
The reappearance of the fruit follows their mysterious disappearance from Russian shelves. It was first rumoured that the fruit, a Russian staple during the festive period, had not been let into Russia at the Russian-Abkhazian border.
There was then talk of the fact that the mandarins had simply rotted there while waiting to cross into Russia. And after that, it was rumoured that the product has not simply rotted, but been infected with some disease.
The Abkhazian public relations office in Russia has now issued a statement, in which it claims that the mandarins have not been infected with anything.
"It is true that they have partly rotted because they cannot be stored in trucks, which were stopped at the border for too long," said the statement.
At the moment, those mandarins that have not decayed are finally in Russia, but with price tags indicating that the fruit now costs twice as much as they used to.
In Sochi, one kilogram of mandarins is already worth RUR40 ($1,37). In Moscow the Abkhazian mandarins have become more expensive and now cost as much as Turkish ones. According to specialists there is no hope that the price will go down.
