The Federal Customs Service is planning to relocate the customs clearance procedures to the near-border regions. After 1 November 2011 the customs stations of the Moscow Region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region will only be available for customs clearance of a very limited number of items. The market players believe that the new measures will cause a price growth of the customs services and temporary traffic jams on the borders.
Source: www.retail.ru
The Russians tend to spend their savings and take loans more actively. Deposit accounts don’t protect savings from the inflation, which is higher than the average interest rate, whereas loans become more lucrative. The real wages in Russia have been falling during the last three months with retail turnover gradually growing. As Rosstat (Russia’s State Statistics Office) reports, in Q1 the food items turnover grew 1.2% and non-food items turnover – 8.3%. The real income has lost 2.9% in Q1 and 3.4% in March. Inflation growth has accelerated and reached 9.5% (versus 7.2% three months ago).
Source: www.retail.ru
March 2011 Russian retail turnover grew by 4.8% y-o-y and reached RUB 1.458bn. Food items, drinks and tobacco sales turnover was RUB 713.4bn, which is 1% more than a year ago. Q1 2011 food items retail turnover grew by 1.2% to RUB 2.04bn, non-food items turnover made RUB 2.1bn, 8.3% more than 2010. March 2011 food items retail turnover accounted for 48.9% of the total retail turnover, the share of the non-food items was 51.1%.
Source: www.retail.ru
Prices for fruit and vegetable in Russia fell further last week. The decrease was less dramatic than a week earlier and averaged only 0.7%. In the first week of April fruit and vegetables prices fell by 10.4% at once. This was the record-breaking weekly decrease rate in 2011. Russian market also experienced a slight decrease of garden strawberry prices last week that led to higher demand for these berries from large cities. Analysts of Fruit-Inform Project predict garden strawberry prices to keep their decreasing trend in future. At the same time, demand for this produce will be growing. Principal consumption season of these berries comes in the second half of June, when the market is entered by large quantities of domestic produce.
Source: www.freshplaza.com
The premium class supermarket chain “Azbuka Vkusa” is planning to launch more than 7 new stores in Moscow and Moscow region. The retailer is also considering expansion opportunities in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Kiev.
Since 2008 the company has almost doubled the number of stores: it has increased from 24 to 40, which is quite a good growth rate for the “premium” segment.
Since the beginning of the year the chain has already opened 3 new stores, and operates the total number of 40 outlets. Opening of one store requires a USD 3m investment and USD 4m including the whole range of goods.
Source: www.retailer.ru
The consolidation process, which has already started in the Russian retail market, will be over in 5-7 years. The experts predict that 4-5 largest retail market players will occupy up to 90% of the market. At the moment all retail chains hold a 30% market share, less than 15% belongs to 5 major players. In 5-7 years retail will occupy about 80-90% of the whole market. The rest 10-20% will belong to collective farm markets and super-specialty shops (cheese or butcher’s shops), which will offer goods which can’t be found in a supermarket.
Source: www.foodretail.ru
During January-March 2011 imports from the far abroad countries reached USD 50.4 bn and grew by 45.6% y-o-y. March 2011 the value of imports from the non-CIS countries reached USD 21.6bn and grew by 26.6% in comparison with February 2011.
Source: pda.tks.ru
The Federal Customs Service reports the 45.6% growth of the imports from the non-CIS countries y-o-y. During January-March 2011 imports from the far abroad reached USD 50.4 bn. March 2011 the value of imports from the far abroad countries reached USD 21.6bn and grew by 26.6% in comparison with February 2011.
Imports from the non–CIS Countries Reached USD 50.4bn
Metro Cash & Carry will open a shopping centre with the total area 10,000 sq.m in Magnitogorsk at the end of 2011. It will be the third cash-and-carry centre in the Chelyabinsk Region. The company has also reported that it is planning to open a shopping centre with the total value about EUR 20m in Smolensk. The total area will be 9.800 sq.m, the shopping area – 5.800 sq.m.
Metro Cash & Carry — is one of the world’s largest small-scale wholesale operators. The company operates more than 655 stores in 31 countries under the brand names Metro and Makro. It is present in Russia since 2000 with 58 shopping centers in 39 regions. 2010 the company’s sales grew by 13% y-o-y and reached RUR 2.93bn.
Source: www.foodretail.ru
X5 Retail Group reported a strong rise in full-year profits, noting that net profits jumped up 64% to $271m. These results are due to the fourth-quarter performance, when profits nearly doubled to $88m. Meanwhile, full-year EBITDA was up 15% to $843.6m.
Earlier the company announced a strong rise in full-year sales. X5 continues to keep the average prices well below the country’s official inflation rate and provide considerable savings to Russian consumers. This approach supported strong like-for-like growth but put pressure on gross margin and EBITDA.
Source: www.freshplaza.com
The Moscow Administration obliged retailers to switch over to the new type of kiosks by the end of the year. The Trade and Service Department spokesman, Nikita Kuznetsov, reported that first of all the new pavilions will be installed in the city center. There will be less than 1,500 tents left in the central district of Moscow.
Source: www.retail.ru