Way to Russia Talk Lounge

his masters voice

Hello All, I'm interested in the cost of certain essential items in regional Russia. By this, I mean in some of the cities of the outer lying European-Russian Republics. I am interested in the cost of meat per kilo, potatoes per kilo, clothing (all Kinds), electronic equipment like digital cameras, web cams, a basic personal computer and anything else anyone would like to include the costing of. I want to get a feel for how far a wage goes in these locations. Could you also tell me how many roubles (or US$) it takes to live resonably well in these places. Thanks,
hmv.

siberiamad · Lounge Lizard Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 124

Hi there,

I'm living in Novosibirsk and working as a teacher of English for up to $700 per month. I know it's not European Russia but it's a start and I shouldn't think most prices (nor wages) are vastly different. Food is fairly cheap, though Western-style packaged food (cornflakes, baked beans etc) is getting on for Western prices it seems, branded imports are absurdly expensive and frozen food is almost non-existent as a concept and thus fairly pricey. The bigger the supermarket the cheaper it tends to be, though the Soviet-style bazaars are quite good also, certainly for meat. Technology wise it appears that gadgets are the same if not more than in my native Britain (nothing is ever 'on offer' here) but the accessories (memory chips etc) for them are often much cheaper and just as good. Any imported brand is usually expensive or at least there is no great saving to be had on the actual product, though sometimes on accessories - Parker, Nokia, Gillette, Victorinox (Swiss Army Knives) etc. Clothes are either cheap and nasty Chinese rubbish or very expensive European imports, shoes are usually extortionately priced. By the way, I pay $135 rent per month and thus save most of my wage and still live comfortably. Potatoes are R10 per kilo, cheese is about R120 per kilo for something decent, milk is about R18 per litre, Baltika beer is R15 for a bottle, English beer is R109 for a bottle, salami is as little or as much as you want to pay - starting at R100 per kilo..........

G

Ender · Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 11:33 pm Post subject:

I'm programmer and live in Chelyabinsk. I have salary roughly USD $1100. We have currently following prices. Two prices is for poor and high quality goods.
Meat: 4.5..6.8 $/kg
Potatoes: ~1.6 $/kg at summer and more than 4 $/kg at winter
Clothing: may vary but you can buy good 100% cotton T-shirt from $5 to $15. Shirt from $15 to $30. Complete suit with shirt and tie somewhere between $200 and $420. Sheepskin coat is may cost from $300 (usually for men) to $1000 and more (for woman). Generally all woman's clothing cost much more than man's.
Milk: 0.45 $/litre
Juice: 1.5..3 $/litre
Bread: 0.3..1 $/kg
Cheese: 4.5..7.5 $/kg
Gas (regular): 0.67 $/litre
The cheapest PC i seen was about 300$ (without display) yet modern.
I pay about: 150$ for rent (apartments, phone, electricity, water and so on).
Ticket to movie: 4.5..7.5$

Ender

UsualSuspect · Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:06 am Post subject: In Krasnoyarsk...

Hi,
Just got back. Prices in Krasnoyarsk seem to be on par with what everyone else is posting although it seems meat is cheaper elsewhere.
In the local supermarket, a quality pastrami or smoked pork block was about 10US a kilo. I know I could've bought at the markets but I have doubts about freshness etc. When a group of us went on holiday to the lakes one of the ladies with us used to work in the market and spent about an hour poking, prodding and sniffing all the meat.

BTW, the 5 kilos of pork cost about 1/5 of what we pay in Oz.

Western goods are at much the same prices as in Oz, maybe 10-15% higher. Naturally, stick with Russian goods and you'll be laughing. In Oz a loaf of bread is around 2.50 to 3.00 $AUS. That's 50-60 roubles and would get you 4 loaves of russian bread (which is top notch eating BTW).

Electronics were a bit bizarre. Mobiles default language is Russian and the price varied considerably, again on par with here. My wife and I went car stereo shopping and found speakers were half the cost (50-75US) for the same brand, but the head units were 20% dearer! Amplifiers were cheaper than here by 20-35%. Bizarre....

Off the top of my head some prices :
Bread - 50-75c US
Qual Vodka - 8$US
Sirki (Choc coated soft cheese thingy, tatsty) - 17c US
Juice (Qual) 1.25-1.50 US / litre

Medicines are S**T CHEAP. 1/5 the cost as compared to OZ unless you buy a foreign made one and a lot don't require a prescription.

I left 4 days ago and the exchange rate was 26.8 roubles/$US and 20.44 roubles /$AUS (No, they don't change AUS notes...)

I didn't have to pay for accommodation and reckon I could get by on US650/month easily. It was US500 two years ago!

Usualsuspect