Market News

The Price of Street Kiosks to Double

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The new approved version of street kiosk will cost Rub 350,000. New street tents will have a brand new style: laconic, beige colour, without any crude signs. However, they won’t be all the same. Designers from the Moscow Architectural Committee developed various styles: “Classical”, “Modern” and “Free style”. Entrepreneurs can order tents from different manufacturers, as there is no monopoly for them. Manufacturers are obliged to charge the set price and follow the standards, developed by the Moscow Architectural Committee.

The mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin is determined to get rid of old kiosks and set the limit for the number of new ones of 10,000. In 2010 there were 26,000, almost threefold more.

Source: www.retail.ru

Russia and China Switch to Trade in Rubles and Yuan

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Russian Central Bank Deputy Chairman Viktor Melnikov said on Thursday: “This agreement allows for settlements through Russian and Chinese banks not only in the freely convertible currencies but also in the yuan and the rubles”. Russia and China have also agreed to boost bilateral trade from $60 billiion in 2010 to $100 billion by 2015 and to $200 billion by 2020, Melnikov added.

People’s Bank of China Deputy Chairman Ma Delun said the agreement would give the two nations the opportunity to increase the value of deals in their national currencies and “help bring them closer to international reserve currencies.” The deal will also help Russia and China reduce foreign exchange risks and currency conversion costs, Ma Delun and Melnikov said.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Vegetables safety agreement signed between Russia and EU

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The European Commission officially reported that on June 22 Russia and the EU signed an agreement, which allows to immediately resume shipments of vegetables from European farms to Russia.

Under this agreement European vegetables will have to undergo special carantine control and receive a correspondent certificate to confirm their safety.

As per the European Commission 1.1mln tonnes of European vegetables is exported to Russia annually with total value of 600mln euros. They account for 20% of all the vegetables imported to Russia.

Source: www.fruitnews.ru

Dixy Group Completed Acquisition of Victoria

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Dixy Group closed acquisition deal of Victoria chain with total value Rub 25.6bln, including debt. To finance the deal the company offered 38.75mln shares, each Rub 391 worth, and raised a 4.5bln rubles loan. The major shareholder Merkuriy participated in follow-on offering.

Victoria operates 257 stores in Central and North-Western federal districts, as well as in Kaliningrad region, but only 35 of them will change their name in 2011 (with Rub 1mln investment pro each store). The significant part of integration expenses will fall on 2012. The expected earnings in 2011 will amount to Rub 34bln. The consolidated turnover of Dixy Group will reach approximately Rub 115bln.

Source: www.retail.ru

Russian Retail Turnover Growth Fell to 5.5% in May

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According to Rosstat (Russian Federal Statistics service) in May 2011 Russian retail trade growth fell from 5.6% in April to 5.5%. In Rub terms the growth rate made 1trln 525.4bln. In May the turnover grew by 2.4%. The share of food items, including drinks and tobacco, amounted to 48.3% (48.9% in May 2010), non-food items occupied 51.7% of the total retail turnover (51.1% in May 2010). Trade companies and individual entrepreneurs generated 88.8% of retail turnover. The share of retail markets and fairs was 11.2% (in May 2010 87.9% and 12.1% respectively).

During the first five months of 2011 retail turnover grew by 5.2% y-o-y and reached Rub 7trln 182.4bln.

Source: www.retail.ru

Finnish Sok Retail Int. Oy to Open 4 New Supermarkets in St. Petersburg

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Sok Retail Int. Oy is part of the Finnish S-Group, which operates retail chains Prisma, Sale, SMarket and Sokos, Holiday Club, Radisson SAS hotels. To date the company runs 5 chain stores  Prisma in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region. Sok Retail Int. Oy is planning to invest Eur 100mln in 4 new supermarkets in St. Petersburg, housed by Adamant Holding Company. As per experts’ estimates, Sok Retail will acquire up to 50,000 sq m of sales area. Prices in Prisma are higher than in local supermarkets, but consumers are attracted by the range of Finnish products, which normally can be purchased only in Finland.

Source: www.retail.ru

Russian Companies Form RFID Joint Venture

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Russian nanotechnology company Rusnano, along with Sitronics, a Russian electronics company, and X5 Retail Group, Russia’s largest retailer, have joined in an agreement to bring radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies to Russia’s retail industry.

According to an announcement of the agreement, the new joint venture will not only introduce the technology, but will also develop standards and practices for the commercialization of the technology in Russia. The goal of the joint venture is to open Russa’s first “model grocery store for the future” by 2013 based on X5’s retail platform to demonstrate the viability and RFID.

RFID tags are commonly used by many retail companies around the world such as The Home Depot and Walmart to help with inventory and logistics.

The initial budget for the project is 350 million RUB (US$12.5 million) shared equally by the three participants over two years.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Auchan to Expand in Novosibirsk

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The French food retail chain Auchan signed a long-term lease agreement with “Torgoviy kvartal – Novosibirsk” and is planning to open the third hypermarket in Novosibirsk in autumn.

Auchan signed the agreement for 24 years and leased retail area in the trade center “Sibirskiy Mall”. The hypermarket will open in October 2011.

Source: www.retail.ru

Dixy Buys Victoria

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Russian food retailer Dixy said it will acquire rival Victoria Group in a cash and share deal worth 25.6 billion roubles to become the nation’s third largest retailer by revenue and shops. Victoria’s shareholders will become minority shareholders of the new joint company, Dixy will hold the controlling stake – 50% of the shares plus one share. The total amount of transaction is RUB 25.6 bn.

On May, 12 2011 the Federal antimonopoly service of the Russian Federation satisfied a motion for the purchase of 100% shares of Victoria on one condition: Victoria should close all the stores in Serpukhov (a satellite town in the Moscow Region).

Dixy, controlled by tycoon Igor Kesayev via the Mercury Group, is in the midst of a rapid expansion drive to take advantage of strong growth in domestic consumer spending amid a broader economic recovery.

Source: www.retailer.ru, www.reuters.com

Vegetable export to Russia still non-existent

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President Medvedev said last week Russia was prepared to resume vegetable imports, provided the governments involved could guarantee the origin, manner of cultivation and controls. “At the moment, however, no vegetables are being exported to Russia” Paul van Ravenswaaij of Ravex International from Holland says.
The export of fruit to Russia continues as usual, but the level is low. Alexander Visser of Alexport, Holland: “Especially greenhouse vegetables suffer. It is of course the correct period to export Dutch greenhouse vegetables. I can have a hundred trucks, which returned fully laden from Russia. This is a massive problem for the Dutch fruit and vegetable trade”.
Source: www.freshplaza.com