Author Archives: CrispConsulting

Desert grape crop could approach record level

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Coming off a record year, California’s table grape production is already off to a fast start again, according to growers and shippers in the Coachella Valley.

“We’re two weeks early,” Nick Bozick, president of Mecca, Calif.-based Richard Bagdasarian Inc., said April 12. The desert grape deal typically doesn’t get underway until about May 1, concluding in mid-July. Other growers estimated their crop was similarly early. Shipments began in earnest in the last week of April.

Suppliers said their product would hit the market at a good time, too, with Chilean shipments concluded April 10. Those suppliers said the last of Chilean product, from a practical standpoint, would be cleared out by early May, just in time for their first shipments.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 8.2-kilogram containers of bagged thompson seedless grapes from Chile were $26-28 f.o.b. for extra-large; $24-26, large; and $22-24, medium, as of April 18. A year earlier, the same product from Chile was $20-22, extra-large; $18-20, large; and $14-16, medium.

Most growers planned to hit the markets with perlettes, then move into flames and scarlet royals, blacks and sugraones. Anticipated volume from the desert is 6 million to 7 million cartons, grower-shippers said. Growing conditions have been ideal, they added.

California logged a record year for table grape production in 2013, according to the Fresno-based California Table Grape Commission. California shipped a record volume of 117.4 million boxes (116.2 19-pound box equivalents), with a total crop value of $1.7 billion, the commission reported. The desert season kicks off the state’s production year, which runs through February. The commission said California produces 99% of the commercial fresh grapes grown in the U.S. “Over the past 10 years the volume has significantly increased,” Kathleen Nave, the commission’s president, said in a news release.

www.thepacker.com

Pesticide nitrates are detected in 600 tons of fruits and vegetables in Russia

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According to the latest data, Russian toxic substance control service has examined more than 600 tons of fruits and vegetables imported to the domestic market. Due to inspection results, violations of standards were detected in 27 lots of fruits including 120 tons of tomatoes, 120 tons of marrows and 220 tons of apples. The acceptable nitrates level was several times exceeded. Most of low quality products were delivered from Turkey and Poland.

www.freshplaza.com

Russian growers do not plan to raise apple prices until end of season

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The majority of Russian apple farms have already reported of the finish of the season with the rest offering remaining volumes.

In view of that, growers do not plan to revise apple prices to sell their stocks as soon as possible as the quality of apples is sharply decreasing now.

For the present, apple prices in Russia still vary between RUB 22-27/kg (EUR 0.41-0.51/kg), depending on variety. Price levels in the same period of the previous season were similar to current ones.

www.fruit-inform.com

Russian greenhouse vegetables increased in 2013

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Russia’s greenhouse vegetable cultivation industry in 2013 is on the rise. The greenhouse vegetable production has increased by 6.7% in 2013 as compared with 2012. According to the Russian Federation National Bureau of Statistics, the total output growth rate is the highest in the region of Ural in 2013 with an increase of 28%.

Vegetable greenhouses in the Volga Federal District have maintained a leading position in vegetable production in 2013. With a production output of 184,000 tons, they produce tomatoes, cucumbers and green vegetables.

Analysts in the Russian Central Federal District indicated that the greenhouse market situation is developing and consumer demands are increasing. More investors are investing in the vegetable greenhouses in the south of Russia. They estimate that in the next three years, the industrial greenhouses and vegetable production southern Russia will be significantly improve and develop.

Currently most of the fresh vegetables in Russia have been imported from abroad. High demand for fresh fruits and vegetable normally come from the capital city of Moscow during the low season.

www.freshplaza.com

Russia threatens Kiev with limits on agrarian trade

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Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian Prime Minister, has threatened the Ukraine with “serious sanctions” in the agrarian trade if their neighbouring country were to leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) or sign an agreement of union with the EU. A limit on the bilateral trading regime would be unavoidable, as Moscow is obliged to represent the interests of its agricultural producers, said Medvedev on the 5th of April during a congress of national delegates in Wolgograd.

The adjustments would take place within the framework of the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he assured them. Medvedev had previously stated that Moscow would respect the decision of the Ukraine to integrate into the EU, but that it would have to protect itself against possible consequences that could arise due to the easier access EU products would have to the Ukrainian market.

www.freshplaza.com

Russian retailer Lenta undeterred by Ukraine crisis

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Jan Dunning, CEO of St Petersburg-headquartered hypermarket chain Lenta, says the situation in Ukraine has had no impact on the group, as consumer confidence remains unaffected in Russia.

The breakaway of Crimea from Ukraine marked a key pressure point in the crisis, after the region’s residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining Russia.

Dunning said that consumer demand in Russia was unaffected by the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, but that Western sanctions on the country had weakened the rouble. Over the year-to-date, the dollar has risen almost 8.5 percent against the Russian currency. As a result, Lenta was looking to source products from within Russia, or from China.

Also on Thursday, Lenta reported robust sales growth of 37.3 percent for the first quarter, during which the chain opened two new hypermarkets. Dunning said Lenta’s expansion plans were undeterred by the Ukraine-Russia turmoil, with plans to open 24 hypermarkets and 15 supermarkets in 2014.

www.cnbc.com

Magnit Named One of Europe’s 50 Most Valuable Brands

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Magnit, Russia’s largest food retailer, has been named one of the 50 most valuable brands in Europe.

The brand is worth $272 million, placing it 44th on the list just after The Body Shop and before such retailers as department store Debenhams and mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse, according to the report Best Retail Brands 2014 by brand consultancy Interbrand.

Magnit’s earnings rose 26 percent in 2013 to $18.2 billion with a net profit of $1.1 billion. By comparison, the company’s primary competitor X5 Retail Group, owner of supermarket chains Pyatyorochka, Perekryostok and Carousel, saw earnings of $16.8 billion and a net profit of $345 million.

Magnit had more than 8,000 stores across the country in late 2013, while X5 had about 4,500 locations.

Despite its strong position in the market, Magnit cut its full-year 2014 sales growth forecast from 25 percent down to between 22 and 24 percent to account for reduced consumer confidence stemming from Russia’s weak economic growth. The IMF has predicted that Russia’s gross domestic product will grow by a mere 1.4 percent in 2014, revised from an earlier forecast of 2 percent.

www.themoscowtimes.com

X5 Retail Group Q1 retail sales up 13.9%

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X5 Retail Group N.V., a Russian food retailer, reported first-quarter retail sales of RUR 143.90 billion; an increase of 13.9% from RUR 126.30 billion, previous year. Like for like sales improved 6.3% during the quarter.

X5 Retail Group N.V. operates several retail formats: the chain of economy class stores under the Pyaterochka brand, the supermarket chain under the Perekrestok brand, the hypermarket chain under the Karusel brand, Express convenience stores under various brands and the online retail channel under the E5.RU brand. At 31 March 2014, X5 had 4,618 company-operated stores.

www.freshplaza.com

Russia: imported product prices increase by 15-20%

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Higher School of Economics (HSE) warns about a soon price increase on imported goods as well as on goods produced with imported raw materials. All details are reflected in a report called “About business climate condition in retail sector in first quarter of 2014…”.

“Retailers are expecting a further weakening of ruble. Imported goods which were bought at earlier exchange rates hold out only few more months”, – Georgy Ostapkovich, the author of the report and the director of HSE Centre of Market research, explained his predictions in the interview to RBC Daily.

Retailers are now seeking for a possibility to substitute imported products to domestic ones to neutralize the price increase.
By HSE estimates, Russia is strongly depending on imports: in average 33% of goods sold through both networked and non-networked retailers are imported. Moreover, the share of imported goods is pretty stable during the last few years, as Georgy Ostapkovich added. That means the prices on goods which can’t be replaced by domestic equivalents will increase by the end of the second quarter of 2014.

Ruble has started to weaken since the middle of February 2014, but expected price increase has not been recorded by Rosstat yet. A main rule for suppliers is that a supplier must inform a retailer about release price increase in a period of 30 days.

In fact, the price raising is step by step overtaking retail networks. For example, in “Dixie” a price increase on foreign fruit and vegetables is about 10-25%, on dairy products – 7-15%, sugar – about 8%. Meat products suppliers are going to raise prices by 10% or even more.

In “O’kay” a general price increase of 15-20% is detected. Retail prices on fish have grown up by 20%, on chocolate and nuts – by about 15%. The price increase on dairy products is the same as in “Dixie” – about 15%.
Furthermore, release prices on non-food range of products are also rising by 10%. Especially prices on cloths (90% of imported items), household appliances (80% of imported items), sport goods, office supplies and toys (70 % of imported items) are growing up dramatically.

According to Rosstat, the inflation in March was 1%, since the beginning of 2014 – 2.3%.

www.newsru.com

US: Apple holdings down 3%

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About 48 million bushels of U.S.-grown fresh-market apples had yet to be shipped as of April 1, 3% less than last year at the same time.

The April total was, however, 8% higher than the five-year average, according to the April Market News report from the Vienna, Va.-based U.S. Apple Association.

Washington accounted for 41.7 million bushels of the U.S. total, Michigan 2.8 million bushels and New York 2.5 million bushels.

Holdings of red delicious, galas, golden delicious and fujis were down from last year.

Red delicious holdings fell from 20 million to 17.5 million bushels; galas from 7.1 million to 6.7 million bushels; golden delicious from 6.1 million to 5.4 million bushels; and fujis from 7.4 million to 4.6 million bushels.

Granny smith holdings increased from 5.3 million to 7 million bushels and Pink Lady from 1.33 million to 1.38 million bushels.

www.thepacker.com