Author Archives: CrispConsulting

Top Fruit Report Russia

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Pear: Conference has a good presence and some Abate from Italy, with stable prices but lower than in previous years. The arrivals from the southern hemisphere are still below those of 2011 and even 2010, having increased somewhat in the recent week; prices were adjusted for last week and remain below the previous ones for the last two years.

Apple: Poland dominates the market, which adds to the supply of Western Europe, with prices lower than those of 2011.

From the Southern Hemisphere a volume less than that of 2011 (-50%) and similar to that of 2010 has entered, due primarily to Argentina’s reduction. The first prices that were registered, were basically for Gala, they are below last year’s.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Fruit and vegetable cultivation decreases in Russia between 2004 and 2010

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During the last few years Russia has become more and more an import market for fruit and vegetables. The own production clearly decreased, whilst import of fruit and vegetables increased sharply. Important trading partners are both countries in the region, such as Poland, Turkey, China and Uzbekistan as well as countries which are somewhat further away, such as the Netherlands, Israel, Ecuador and Argentina.
The total area of vegetables in Russia during the period 2004-2010 decreased form 945,000 HA to 759,000 HA, a decrease of 20%. The production of vegetables decreased by 11% from 14,809 to 13,233 million kgs in 2010. Especially the area and the production of cabbage decreased. The same development in the fruit cultivation can be seen. The area decreased by 43% and the production by 37%. With apples and pears both area and production were halved.
Whilst the production decreased imports sharply increased. In the period 2003-2010 imports of fresh vegetables into Russia increased by 91% from 1,220 to 2,327 million kgs. Especially more tomatoes and cucumber were imported. The import of fruit increased by 86% from 2,997 to 5,562 million kgs. Of practically all important fruit varieties more is imported. The increase was biggest with apples, mandarins, grapes and peaches.

Ag industry to benefit from Russia WTO membership

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Russia is expected to complete its full accession into the World trade Organization later this year after formally being approved late last year.

This could be good news for agricultural trade as tariffs have already begun  to be reduced.

Trade analyst Eric Trachtenberg, said  “Apple tariffs will go down, pear tariffs will go down, tree nuts… These are meaningful benefits for people looking to seek overseas markets for U.S. products.”

“It is still a large country and there’s economic growth, especially in the larger cities,” Trachtenberg said. “There’s rising disposable income, increasing real wages, and still falling unemployment and there is a dynamic and growing retail sector. There is strong product demand, some of it will come from direct sell to customers, some of it will come from increasing inputs to food processing.”

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Russia threatens ban of dried fruit imports

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Russia is threatening to ban imports of dried fruit from Tajikistan and Azerbaijan, according to a press release issued by Rosselnadzor, Russia’s agricultural oversight agency.

The possibility of a ban emerges after repeated instances of pests being discovered in shipments of dried fruits from both countries, according to the agency.

Rosselnadzor has warned the countries of measures they need to take to avoid the ban, stating that it reserves “the right to take additional protective measures.”

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Russia imports more apples from Moldavia and Serbia

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Russia imported 1.15 million tonnes of apples in 2011. That’s slightly more (+0.4%) than in 2010. Poland remains the most important supplier with around 283,000 tonnes (-18%). This is despite Poland supplying less apples in 2011 than in the two especially successful years before. Moldavia is becoming a more important supplier. In 2011 the country supplied 174,000 tonnes of apples to Russia (+14%). Five years ago this number was still around 1000 tonnes. Imports from China (150,600 tonnes, -3%) have been declining since the peak in 2008 (241.550 tonnes).

The number of deliveries from Serbia has increased significantly (90,700 tonnes, +45%). Argentina (60,150 tonnes, +102%) did well again, after the country only supplied small amounts of apples to Russia in the years 2009 and 2010. The countries from Central and South Europe supplied 222,100 tonnes (+3%) together. The small positive trend in the total import was due to the higher amount of deliveries since the beginning of the new harvest (+8.9%). In the first half of 2011 the number of imports was in a downward trend.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

JFC directors and CEO Mr Kekhman are summoned for contempt

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On Friday 9 March 2012, the Admiralty and Commercial Court in London held a review hearing in respect of reefer ship operators STAR Reefers’ worldwide freezing order against the major Russian fruit importer JFC.

The Judge, Mr Edelman QC,  held that there were good grounds for continuing the worldwide freezing order against JFC, freezing JFC’s assets wherever they may be in the world. The Order also requires JFC to give prior notification of all business transactions in excess of USD$25,000 and to provide an updated schedule of its worldwide assets by 16 March 2012. JFC were ordered to pay STAR’s legal costs totalling GBP£175,000.

Crucially, the Judge found that there was a good arguable case that there had been serious breaches of the worldwide freezing order by JFC and good arguable case that the seven named directors/officers had willfully disobeyed the Court’s previous Order. He therefore granted permission to serve the contempt of court proceedings on the named directors/officers.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

X5 slides after director quits

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The X5 Retail Group has fallen to its lowest point in more than two weeks after the director of its discount format division of 15 years quit.

Shares slid 5.2 percent to $25.05 at 12 p.m. in London trading, the weakest intraday level since Feb. 16. Oleg Vysotsky will continue to manage the division until a replacement is found and will then serve as a transition adviser, X5 said in a statement today.

“Mr. Vysotsky was one of X5’s star managers, who has helped to make discounters the company’s best-performing business,” said Luis Saenz, chief executive officer of the U.S. unit of Moscow-based brokerage Otkritie Financial Corp. in an e- mailed note today. “His departure is likely to weaken X5’s core segment.”

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Russia first non-EEA market for EU producers

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Fruit and vegetables exports from the EU to Russia, from January to November 2011, were around 2.35 million tons, representing an increase of 16% regarding the same period of 2010, consolidating Russia as the first non-EEA market for fruit and vegetable producers in the EU, according to FEPEX. In the analyzed period, Russia represented 39% of the total exported by EU to countries outside the Union.

Of the 2.35 million tons of fruit and vegetables exported by communitarian producers to Russia, between January and November 2011, that are the latest updated info from Eurostat – a total of 1.15 million tons correspond to vegetables and 1.20 million tons corresponds to fruit. The main exported vegetable is potato, with 596,671 tons, followed by onion with 124,658 tons. The main exported fruit is the apple with 465,550 tons, followed by pears, with 224,019 tons.

Inside EU, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania, Belgium and Spain are the main exporters of fruit and vegetables to Russia.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Joint Fruit Company ‘will return to market’

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Bankrupt Russian banana importer Joint Fruit Company (JFC) will “be back on the market” after taking time out to “recover” from its current financial difficulties, a source close to the group has claimed.

Speaking to Eurofruit Magazine, Dmitry Gerasimov, lead import manager from J Fresh, an importer established by JFC in 2011, claimed that the company would not stop supplying bananas to the Russian market, despite filing for bankruptcy. The company  trying to get some time to talk to their creditors and the bank.

He said: “I think JFC should be back, but I think they need to take a deep breath before they can return,” he added. “They just need some time to recover before they will be back on the market.” 

Source: www.fruitnet.com