Depreciation triggers frenzy among consumers

Crazy was the word Yu Wenting used to describe the past few days in Moscow as she hurried to department stores and supermarkets to purchase goods ranging from milk powder to luxury watches and jewelry on request from her friends and relatives in China.

The dramatic fall in the rouble value has not only sparked a shopping frenzy for local residents but also for cash-rich Chinese buyers who would not miss any opportunity to take advantage of the price gap for luxury items inside and outside China.

Yu, who lives and works in Russia, said she managed to snap up 10 iPhone 6 models for her clients who ordered them through the popular Chinese social networking platform WeChat before Apple Inc shut down its online stores in Russia after the rouble's drastic depreciation.