Author Archives: CrispConsulting

Russia Ignores Turkish Request to Lift More Products from Boycott

Written by

Last week, Russia lifted the boycott of a number of Turkish products, including cauliflower, broccoli and onions. However, for a number of products, such as tomatoes, apples, pears and cucumbers, the boycott remains in effect. On Monday, the Turkish government requested to also lift the sanctions on the remaining products. Ankara wants to increase exports to Russia by 100 billion dollar per year.

The Russian phytosanitary service, however, is in no hurry, and has disregarded the request. “These restrictions, that are still in place, will remain in place and we are not planning to lift them. And especially not in the near future,” Yulia Melano, spokesperson of the organisation, told the Russian press agency, Tass.

It was announced by the Ministry of Economic Development that lifting the sanctions last week had no effect on price developments in Russia. Although allowing products such as cauliflower, broccoli and onions will have consequences for the price developments of these specific products, their market share is too small to influence general trends.

www.freshplaza.com

Trade Turnover between Turkey & Russia up for First Time in Three Years

Written by

The trade turnover between Turkey and Russia in January this year rose for the first time since 2014, reports the agency Anadolu, citing the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

In January 2017, the value of Turkey’s exports to Russia increased by 59.1% to $150 million. During this period, the revenue generated by Turkish fruit and vegetable exports to Russia rose to nearly $38 million due to the partial removal of restrictions on the export of Turkish oranges and mandarins.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s imports from Russia in January rose by 10.2% – from 1.3 billion to 1.5 billion dollars. Most of these shipments corresponded to energy (almost 832 million) and steel (279 million dollars).

Trade turnover between Russia and Turkey had decreased since 2014.

The embargo on Turkey, affecting a wide range of vegetables and fruits, as well as raw meat and flowers, was introduced by Russia on 1 January 2016 in response to a Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet shooting down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M in Syria. In October 2016, the Russian government decided to readmit a number of Turkish products, including stonefruits and citrus. Grapes, apples, pears, strawberries, tomatoes, onions and shallots, cauliflower, broccoli and cucumbers are still banned.

www.freshplaza.com

Russia Ranked Third Among World’s Largest Orange Importers

Written by

In 2015, Russia imported 466.4 thousand tonnes of oranges and ranked third in the list of the world’s largest importers of this citrus fruit, behind the Netherlands and Germany, reports FAMMU/FAPA, based on: Factsheet sinaasappelen.

Most oranges on the Russian market came from Egypt (232.5 thousand tonnes), Turkey (110.3 thousand tonnes) and South Africa (87.6 thousand tonnes). Moreover, almost 20 thousand tonnes were imported from Morocco and nearly 9 thousand tonnes were re-exported from Belarus.

Also, according to the latest data for the first eight months of 2016, the Russian import of oranges amounted to 304.9 thousand tonnes, compared to 312.5 thousand tonnes in the same period of the previous year.

In the period from January to the end of August, most oranges were shipped by Egypt, with 251.9 thousand tonnes.

www.freshplaza.com

Russian Crisis Weeds out Bad Importers

Written by

The spending power of middle-class shoppers in Russia has been reduced in the last couple of years, so Andrey Volkov from Tropic group said that importers have to play it safe with what they purchase and are more hesitant to introduce new exotics. People are only really buying the basic fruit and vegetables, ie. bananas, citrus, potatoes, cabbage.

Tropic group is one of the top 5 importers in Russia, and their largest importer of Moroccan tomatoes.

Andrey reports that there have been a lot of problems in the last several years with bad companies who take large volumes of fruit and veg and then ‘disappear’ into thin air without paying a cent, leading to a large volume of unpaid debts.

“The supermarkets are more protected from these problems because they have properties and are able to absorb the losses. We have to be vigilant and very aware of who we are dealing with, especially in the last 5 years.” continued Andrey.

But it’s not all doom and gloom; “My prediction is that the market will be cleaned up in the coming years, survival of the fittest, and reach the same kind of level as the rest of Europe, with a few major importers, with a lot of the medium importers disappearing.” said Andrey. “That is something positive we can take out of the crisis, I am expecting that the wrong people should disappear. It’s just like the wild, wild west – only the strongest will survive.”

www.freshplaza.com

Russia not in a Hurry to Lift Sanctions on Turkey

Written by

Russia is in no hurry to lift the boycott on Turkish products. “There are no plans to lift the boycott in the near future,” said Sergey Dankvert of Russian phytosanitary watchdog, Rossekhoznadzor, to Sputnik News.

“The import of a number of products is already allowed. The other products are boycotted by us and by the Russian government,” according to Sergey in pro-Russian media. “There will not be a massive opening for Turkish companies on the Russian market.” However, the boycotted products still find their way to the Russian market via detours, through Mali and Uganda, for example.

In 2016, Russia boycotted a number of products after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane. After the Turkish government apologised in the summer of 2016, the process of reconciliation was started. Russia has already lifted a number of the sanctions, but not all. For example, in October the trade in dried oranges, tangerines, peaches, nectarines and plums was started again. The export of other products, such as tomatoes, apples, strawberries, courgettes and pumpkins is still not allowed.

www.freshplaza.com

Rosselkhoznadzor Abolishes its Decision to Suspend Export from Some Companies

Written by

On the annulment of the measures of Rosselkhoznadzor in relation to the establishments exporting products of animal origin, which have not been exporting to Russia for a long time

February 15, 2017

Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service decided to abolish the decision from February 2, 2017 # FS-NV-7/1988 on the the change of status in the Register of enterprises to “Suspended because lack of import”  in regard to companies, which have not exporting to Russia for 18-36 months.

www.fsvps.ru

Rosselkhoznadzor Suspended the Export from Some Facilities

Written by

On the measures of Rosselkhoznadzor in relation to the establishments exporting products of animal origin, which have not been exporting to Russia for a long time

February 3, 2017

Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service analyzed shipments to the Russian Federation of the controlled veterinary goods from the establishments listed in the Register of organizations and persons that conduct production, processing, and (or) storage of the controlled goods exported to the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

According to the results of this work, it was revealed that some of the establishments included in the Register did not conduct shipments to the Russian Federation during a long time or have not exported their products at all.

For this reason, the Rosselkhoznadzor had not been able to carry out border veterinary control and laboratory monitoring of products of such establishments.  In addition, the Russian agency (Rosselkhoznadzor) has no information on the results of third-country supervisory measures in respect of these establishments and their products, including laboratory studies that, in turn, makes it impossible to assess the risks.

It is worth to note that the majority of establishments listed in the mentioned Register were included to the Register on the base of the guarantees of the competent authorities of the countries that implied compliance of these establishments with all veterinary and sanitary requirements of the Russian Federation.

Therefore, the status of “Suspended due to lack of export” will be entered in theRegister of enterprises of third countries in relation with the absence of shipments of controlled goods (products) to the territory of the Russian Federation within 18-36 months.  Exports to the Russian Federation can be resumed as a result of inspections of the establishment by the competent body in the field of veterinary supervision of the third country and the analysis of the submitted inspection report by Rosselkhoznadzor.

In addition, the companies that did not conduct shipments of the products of animal origin to Russia during three and more years will be excluded from theRegister of enterprises of third countries.

These measures will be implemented by the Service within the next week.

www.fsvps.ru

In Russia, the consumption of apples and pears decreased

Written by

According to analysts of Growth Technology company, average consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables per capita fell by 19% for the past 3 years in Russia. During 2016, average consumption of fruits and berries was 52 kg, while in 2013-2014, it was 64 kg. The analysts include fruits bought in shops and markets, as well as grown in private orchards, in the total amount. The amount of fruit and berries from private orchards accounts for 68% of the total amount, but the share is going down due to urbanization of the country.

Pome fruit, and especially apples, have always been the most popular fruit in Russia. Average fresh apple consumption is 25 – 30 kg, and more than half of them are imported. In spring and early summer, the share of imported pome fruits sharply increase due to the lack of a modern storage facilities.

www.fruitnews.ru

Could Warmer Relations between Russia and the US end the sanction?

Written by

After what can be described as tense relations over the last few years between America and Russia, relations seem to be warming, especially after a telephone conversation between Putin and Trump last Saturday.There had been speculation that there would be a discussion about the possibility of lifting the Russian ban, but sources on both side confirmed that this was not discussed this time.

“In the course of the conversation, both sides demonstrated a desire for active joint efforts to stabilize and develop Russia-American relations on a constructive, equitable and mutually beneficial basis,” the Kremlin said. “The importance was underlined of restoring mutually beneficial trade and economic ties between business on both sides.”

Russian contacts were reluctant to comment on the political situation, saying they they would only like to comment on products, not politics.

However, the big question is, would Russian and American fruit traders be able to pick up where they left off before the 2014 trade embargo? Russia has been building new trade ties with countries outside of the EU and US who are able to trade freely in the meantime.

“The sanctions were such an issue that we needed to move forward as an organisation and we now only focus on local products, so this ban is no longer such  an issue for us. The products that we are not able to produce ourselves are being imported from countries like Israel and Iran, who are not part of the embargo.” shared a trader.

The push to become self-sufficient has brought a lot of new investments in the agriculture segment, especially for greenhouse production. It was announced last year that RusAgro, was planning on building four greenhouses, each one the size of 100 football fields, and has already given the go ahead for construction of the first two in Siberia and the Far East.

There has also been a lot of focus on increasing domestic apple production, one of the hardest hit fruits from the ban. Although it is possible that Russia could become self-sufficient growing their own apples, this is only something that could happen over the course of several years until the apple orchards grow to maturity.

www.freshplaza.com

In 2016, Inflation Rate Reached its Minimum Rate for the Past 25 Years

Written by

In 2016, the inflation rate was 5.4%, compared to 12.9% in 2015, according to Federal Service of State Statistics. This is the minimum rate for the past 25 years, according to IndexBox analysts: the previous record was in 2011, when the inflation reached 6.1%.

One of the main reasons of prices stabilization was strengthening of the ruble, connected to oil prices growth; in 2016, the average dollar exchange rate decreased by 17% to 60.6 rubles per dollar.

Another reason for the deceleration of the inflation rate was the tough monetary policy of the Central Bank: in 2016, the key rate was reduced only twice – in June and September (to 10%). This meant the growth of money market rates, which increased savings amount, slowed down credit activities and controlled prices growth.

Another reason was the decrease of domestic demand: for the first 11 months of 2016, the real income of the population declined by 5.8% and retail trade turnover – by 5.1% in annual terms.

In 2016, the inflation rate for food products was 4.6%, compared to 14% in 2015, for industrial goods – 6.5%, compared to 13.7% in 2015, and for paid services – 4.9%, compared to 10.2% in 2015.

As for the inflation rate forecast for 2017, despite the decline in inflation rate, it may not reach the forecast level of the Central Bank (4%), according to analysts. One of the reasons for that is the recovery of the domestic demand, which is very likely as real incomes got more stable. According to IndexBox, the inflation rate of 4% may be achieved if the embargo is lifted.

www.indexbox.ru