Author Archives: CrispConsulting

Russia Bans Re-export of Fruit and Veg from Guinea, Afghanistan and San Marino

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Starting from 28 November, Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) has introduced a ban on the supply to Russia of vegetables and fruit from Guinea, Afghanistan and San Marino, through third countries, because of the increased volume of re-exports via Belarus, said the agency.

“From 28 November 2016, the Rosselkhoznadzor will only allow direct shipments to Russia of regulated products of high phytosanitary risk originating from the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Republic of San Marino,” said the statement. Products from these countries will be allowed through the checkpoints on the Russian section of the border of the Eurasian Economic Union only when accompanied by the right phytosanitary certificates.

www.freshplaza.com

Russian Consumer Worse off

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The majority of Russians are noticing that prices for fruit, vegetables and meat have increased, according to research done by Itar-Tass. Respondents indicated they are spending more money on these food. Not only do consumers notice a downside to the boycott due to prices in supermarkets, products on the shelves have also changed. Belgian newspaper De Standaard visited a Russian supermarket, and found a stripped assortment of meat. It is also difficult for industry, Russian companies invested too little, and cannot compete with Western techniques.

According to the Russian static service, the consumer price index has increased by six per cent in the past 12 months. Economic indicators are also still in the red. October experienced a decrease of 4.4 per cent in retail sales.

www.freshplaza.com

 

Russia Signs Agreement for Green Corridor from Syria

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The Russian Federation and Syria have signed an agreement in Damascus for the creation of a green corridor for the export of agricultural products from the Arab republic.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitryi Olegovich Rogozin, who heads the Russian part of the permanent bilateral commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation, stated that the Russian side is ready to consider any strategy that will serve to support the economy of the Syrian Arab Republic, and that Syria “will actively supply citrus fruits, vegetables and other fruit crops, which are of the highest quality.”

According to Rogozin, “Syria used to be a supplier of oil and grain, but now Syria has no oil or grain or other products. In this sense, the Russian Federation considers every opportunity to support the trade and economic relations with Damascus.”

Dmitry Rogozin also announced that president Assad promised to guarantee the right conditions for the development of Russian projects in Syria.

www.freshplaza.com

Turkey Expects Russia to Lift Ban on Five More Fruit and Veg

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Ankara expects Moscow to soon lift the ban on the import of five types of Turkish plant products – pomegranates, aubergines, peppers, courgettes and lettuce, as stated by the Minister of Agriculture on Monday.

Faruk Çelik, the Turkish Minister of Agriculture, said that another 11 kinds of Turkish plant products would remain banned. “With regard to them, the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Alexander Tkachev, said that a decision would be made during the visit of Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to Russia (5-6 December),” stated the Minister.

The improvement in Turkish-Russian relations have already ensured an increase in the export of Turkish fruit and vegetables. Compared to the same period a year previously, the Turkish export of tangerines has increased by 41 per cent. With that, export amounted to 90,211 tonnes. The export of oranges increased by 27 per cent to 26,000 tonnes. Last year, between 19 October and 16 November, Turkey exported 63,794 tonnes of tangerines and 20,713 tonnes of oranges, amounting to a total value of 43 million dollar. During the same period this year, Turkey earned over 44 million dollar through the export of tangerines alone.

www.freshplaza.com

Russia to buy $2.5B of Filipino agri produce

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Officials report that during bilateral discussions between President Duterte and Vladimir Putin, Russia committed to buy up to a staggering $2.5 billion worth of fruit, grains and vegetable from the Philippines.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the Russian side agreed “immediately” to a proposal for the importation of Philippine fruit and other agricultural products in the next 12 months.

“Their immediate estimate is $2.5 billion. That’s a number they [the Russian side] quoted,” the Cabinet official told Filipino journalists covering the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Leaders Meeting in Peru’s capital.

This dwarfs the $46 million worth of exports the Philippines currently ships to Russia every year, he said.

“We were talking of what they could buy from us, especially agricultural products, but nothing was specified. But I understand we supply them with a huge quantity of bananas… and mangoes. With these kinds of discussions, these present more trading opportunities between us,” Lopez said.

Lopez said Putin also offered to help the Philippines through investments in energy and infrastructure.

www.freshplaza.com

Steady demand for pears in Russia

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According to major Russian retailer, the Dixy Group, pears are one of the most favoured fruits in Russia, enjoying stable sales throughout the year.

The peak season for pears starts at the beginning of spring with the start of supplies from the Southern Hemisphere. The main varieties during that time period are the Vermont and the Packham.

“Before the embargo, Belgium and Holland had been the main supplier for pears. However, we were lucky that we also had contracts with suppliers outside of the EU, once the embargo hit, so we were able to quickly rearrange distribution with a minimal amount of disruption.” said a representative from the retail chain.

The main pear supplier has become Serbia during January-April, in addition to supplies coming from South Africa, Argentina and Chile from April to September.

Despite suffering frost damage in the spring, the retailer said that they had not noticed any supply issues from Serbia and that the prices are at the same level as last year.

“The green pear varieties remain the favourite amongst consumers, and we currently have the Williams and Chinese pear in our assortment.”

As soon as the Russian embargo was introduced back in 2014, Russian suppliers immediately started to develop this category, actively investing in new growing areas and creating their own supply chain, but the production is still not to the level to be able to cover the demands of the major retail chains.

www.freshplaza.com

South African fruit exports to Russia declining

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According to statistics of the Federal Customs Service of Russia for 2015, the import of oranges from South Africa decreased by 40% in comparison with 2014. This year, export of SA citrus into Russia will fall even further. This is happening in spite of the countries’ leaders calling for increased fruit trade between them. In the opinion of South African and Russian businesses, the main reason for the drop in SA fruits imports to Russia was the introduction, by the Russian side, of a trade barrier in the form of a special mandatory EAC transport marking from February 2015.

By itself the marking does not contain any impossible requirements. The marking (it should be in Russian) describes the name of the product (apple or orange), country of origin, producer, exporter, importer – which is something already written in shipping documents (Bill of Lading, Certificate of Origin, Phytosanitary Certificate), but in English. It is also required to specify the period of validity of the product which is nonsense for fruits: an apple can survive a full year’s storage or rot after a couple of weeks if bitten by a worm. Such a sticker can be printed by South Africans, but often with mistakes, because Russian is not a dispersed language in the country. What is worse is that the EAC sticker must be affixed on each carton, but this does not fit with the technology of fruit preparation and sending them for export adopted in South Africa. According to the existing technology of work with perishable products, as soon as they are harvested and packed they must be delivered to cold storages in ports of loading. They are brought in already mounted and slashed on pallets to ensure safety of cargo during the long sea voyage to the client. Name and address of the concrete receiver will be often made certain at the last moment before the pallets go into the vessel or container. To break the pallets, fix stickers on each carton – there are minimum seventy on a pallet – and then again slash the pallets is not possible in conditions of port cold storages. Big exporters working under programs with big Russian importers can fix stickers at pack houses. It’s costly, but technically possible. But it is not possible for medium and small farms and exporters who work on spot basis and they are forced to leave the Russian market.

www.freshplaza.com, www.fruitnews.info

Russia increased fruit and veg imports from Egypt

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In the first half of this year, Russians imported about 362.5 thousand tonnes of fruit and vegetables from Egypt, compared to 310.5 thousand tonnes in the same period a year earlier. During 2015, the total volume purchased by Russia from Egypt reached 364.7 thousand tonnes, reports FAMMU/FAPA, based on data from Factsheet Russia.

The most imported products from Egypt between January and June this year were oranges, with 250.3 thousand tonnes, and onions, with 79.5 thousand tonnes. For comparison, in the corresponding first six months of the previous year, the volume of oranges purchased reached 201.5 thousand tonnes and that of onions stood at 91.4 thousand tonnes.

Besides these, Russians also imported almost 10 thousand tonnes of Egyptian mandarins, nearly 6 thousand tonnes of grapes and about 3.5 thousand tonnes of lemons, tomatoes and garlic.

www.freshplaza.com

X5 Retail Group to import 100% of its fruit & veg directly

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The X5 Retail Group (“Pyaterochka”, “Perekrestok” and “Karusel”), primarily owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, aims to be able to import 100% of its fruits and vegetables, without intermediaries, by 2019. At the moment, the retailer directly buys from abroad about 20% of its fresh produce.

In order to make it possible for the retailer to import everything directly, the firm will set up contracts with foreign producers, which will allow it to know what the exact price of the products will be, while managing the shipment and delivery terms, which is impossible when working with distributors, reported X5 in a statement.

To do this, the X5 will open two warehouses in rented space, which will be supplied solely by products from abroad until the end of 2016. This arrangement also reduces the duration of travel of fruit and vegetables from abroad by three days. This year, the company will start to operate warehouses in St. Petersburg and Novorossiysk, totalling 6 thousand square metres each, and in 2017 another one will come into operation in the Central Federal District.

At the moment, the company already has more than 100 contracts with foreign producers; a figure it plans to double within the next two years. The retailer is collaborating with suppliers of the EAEC and CIS countries, as well as from Georgia, Syria, Iran, Morocco, Serbia, Macedonia, Moldova, Egypt, Israel, China, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina and Chile.

www.freshplaza.com

Russia lifted the ban for fry of flatfish and shrimp

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The Russian government lifted the restriction on the importation into Russia of fry of flatfish (Psetta maxima), white salmon (Dicentrarchus labrax) and whitefoot shrimp.

Earlier, the Russian government lifted the embargo for fry of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and fry of mussels. The embargo continues to affect the rest of live fish, crustaceans and molluscs.

The Russian authorities set the embargo on food imports from the US, EU member states, Australia, Norway, Albania, Montenegro, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Ukraine in 2014. Meat and meat products, fish and seafood, fruit and vegetables and dairy products are banned for import to Russia. The embargo was introduced as a response to the sanctions against Russia after the annexation of the Crimea and the military conflict in Ukraine.

www.snob.ru, www.publication.pravo.gov.ru